THE borough council could be looking for a new boss tomorrow night if a vote of no confidence in leader David Renard is passed.

But unless something cataclysmic happens, Coun Renard's successor would come from the ruling Conservative group of councillors.

The bid to oust the town's leader of seven years has been put forward by his fellow Haydon Wick ward councillor Oliver Donachie, now an Independent Tory after leaving the Conservatives this year.

He said in August those at the helm of the authority were "stale, lethargic and asleep at the wheel."

The crunch vote will take place at tomorrow's full council meeting.

The Conservatives have 30 members sitting in the chamber, with 22 Labour councillors, two Liberal Democrats and two Independent Tories.

One seat has been left vacant since the death of Labour member for Rodbourne Cheney Des Moffatt in November last year.

Assuming a full attendance, and with Labour, Liberal Democrats, and Independent Tories likely to vote for the motion against Coun Renard, it would need three Conservative councillors to vote against their leader in order for there to be a change.

But one Conservative councillor, speaking anonymously, said: “Coun Donachie doesn’t have the votes. Both Labour and Tory have internal leadership elections each May, and that'll be the time when any changes occur – if they do."

Conservatives have been largely unwilling to speak about the issue – although cabinet member Gary Sumner gave his full support to Coun Renard.

The cabinet member for strategic planning said: “He has our support as an outstanding leader and representative for Swindon – we will continue to do our job of focusing on Swindon and Coun Donachie can enjoy his own leadership battles with himself.”

If enough members do vote for Coun Donachie’s motion, under the council’s constitution Coun Renard may not be forced to step down. But in effect it’s extremely unlikely he could carry on in the role and the Conservatives would have to find a new leader.

It is possible that Coun Renard could stay on as a caretaker leader, or, possibly more likely, the council’s deputy leader Russell Holland would be put in temporary charge

Any leader must be able to command the support of the majority of councillors – so there would be a leadership election.

The group leader would have to be ratified by a meeting of the full council, which would probably be the one scheduled for November 19.

In the unlikely event that the Conservatives could not agree on a leader with the support of at least 28 councillors, Labour as the next largest group might be invited to try and form a minority administration, perhaps with the support of the Lib Dems – but it would need a serious split among the Tories for this to happen.

The meeting starts at 7pm and the vote of no confidence is the last of four motions to be debated.

Members of the public will be able to attend the meeting via a weblink which will be published on the meeting agenda on swindon.gov.uk