Tory mayors have distanced themselves from their party and Rishi Sunak in a desperate attempt to get re-elected.

Ben Houchen and Andy Street face major fights to hang onto their jobs when voters go to the polls in Tees Valley and the West Midlands.

With the Conservatives trailing well behind Labour in the national opinion polls, both men have gone out of their way to avoid admitting they are actually Tories.

Street’s website has no Tory branding and is mainly coloured green rather than the traditional Conservative blue.

Meanwhile, his 300-word biography contains no mention at all of the party he represents.

Houchen’s website does describe him as “the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley”, but during his election campaign he has at times gone out of his way to play down his party affiliation.

In a video posted on Facebook, he said: “I’m less interested in national politics, I am the mayor of Tees Valley. My priority is always the people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.”

And campaign leaflets put through doors in his area also fail to mention the party he represents.

In a further snub for Sunak, both Street and Houchen were happy to receive the endorsement of Boris Johnson rather than the PM yesterday.

Johnson sent a letter to voters in the West Midlands urging them to vote for Street, while he also recorded a video for Houchen.

A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “Rishi Sunak chickened out of calling a general election and now his mayoral candidates are too scared to even acknowledge him.

“It seems they’ve concluded the only way they can win is to distance themselves from the failed Tory Party and pretend they’ve never heard of their beleaguered prime minister.”