Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch will not face a vote of no confidence next week after former colleagues stopped short of fronting the fight to depose him.

Papers for next week's meeting of full council were released on Wednesday night with none of Reform UK's rivals tabling a motion to topple Cllr Finch.

It brings to an end a tense three weeks in which leading figures from Shire Hall's right-leaning parties – Reform, the Conservatives and Restore Britain – thrashed out possible permutations.

Restore Britain's deputy group leader Cllr Scott Cameron this week confirmed that his councillors – all of whom have defected from Reform since the May 2025 elections – were not prepared to back Cllr Finch due to ongoing concerns about his behaviour but did commit to backing a Reform administration under a new leader.

Reform's response was that no alternative would be stood, leaving Restore with an unpalatable choice of supporting Finch or risk a party or coalition with more left-leaning views taking control.

All of that played out after a meeting convened by Cllr Ed Harris – an independent since resigning the Reform whip having been dubbed a 'rogue landlord' by Tamworth Borough Council, a description he refutes – in late August.

The gathering brought together Cllr Harris, Cllr Finch, Conservative group leader Cllr Adrian Warwick, Cllr Yousef Dahmash and Restore leader Cllr Luke Cooper.

Cllr Cameron said that the Conservatives reflected on a difficult choice, allowing Cllr Finch to continue or potentially handing power to the left, probably through Cllr Sarah Boad who heads up the second-largest group on the council.

"They said it was not that they were backing George, that it was about not backing a left-wing coalition," said Cllr Cameron.

"That was (Cllr Warwick's) spin on it. Personally I think that is gameplaying. We suspect they want to keep (Cllr Finch) in to mess up and hope that it will turn out to be electorally beneficial in May."

Cllr Cameron said the talks had been inspired by "every party" talking about a potential challenge, referencing how Cllr Finch had even publicised his view that it was likely to come.

"We became aware that it was going to be proposed by another political party and we were then approached to either propose it or co-sign it," Cllr Cameron continued.

"We said no. Our group was firm, and they should still have had the numbers to oust him.

"It is one thing to support a vote of no confidence, it is another to put in the motion in the first place. We were asked for our position on the leader and we came to that based on the evidence in front of us but we were not firing the gun.

"It would have been twisted that this was about four disgruntled former members of Reform and that was never the case. This was about the leader, not the administration."

Cllr Cameron had previously said he expected a vote to be launched by the Green Party but declined to confirm which party had approached Restore, citing confidentiality. He said he was not aware of why those behind it got cold feet but said Restore had been asked to co-sign the motion "several times".

Having been present at the meeting, Cllr Cooper confirmed his colleague's version of events was accurate and joined him in taking a sceptical view of the Conservative position.

"I suspect they are not doing this to have the best leader for Warwickshire, they are doing it for perceived electoral advantage," said Cllr Cooper.

"We are in agreement that we see many people on the Reform side as competent councillors or even leaders. When we were given the option of stating whether we believe in George Finch the answer was no, we were hoping for another leader to be put forward."

Earlier this year, Cllr Dahmash chaired and cast decisive votes in two standards panels that cleared Cllr Finch of wrongdoing after independent investigations found the leader had breached the county's code of conduct.

He said he had attended the meeting to support Cllr Warwick because deputy group leader Chris Kettle was unable to, adding that "nothing really came of" a get-together that highlighted a level of "animosity" between Restore and Reform leaders. He said the Conservatives were primarily concerned with how the council would function in the event of a leadership change.

Put to him that some opponents may draw parallels between his positions on the standards panel and his presence at a meeting on Cllr Finch's future, Cllr Dahmash said the elements were "completely unrelated", that it was not unusual for him to meet people with different political allegiances in public places, as was the case here, and that his judgements on the standards panels had been based solely on the evidence put in front of him.

"I didn't really say or do anything there, it was a meeting of leaders and I was there," he said.

"The numbers on the council make the administration precarious for whomever would be in charge and maybe that is why the vote of no confidence hasn't gone in – it is a bit of a poisoned chalice.

"Anyone in charge is dependent on others. You do sometimes wonder how it can function and that is not good for anyone."