Boris Johnson has been kept away from the launch of the Conservative local election campaigns in England, prompting suggestions the party is nervous about the potential fallout from his “partygate” fine.

       The Tories claimed their manifesto was launched by Oliver Dowden at the party’s spring conference in Blackpool last month by Oliver Dowden, but The Telegraph can find no evidence of this.

       Mr Dowden made one passing reference to the local elections during his speech, saying: “It is that message – delivery today, delivery tomorrow, and delivery the day after – that will carry us through the local elections and on to the general election.”

       Mr Johnson is not mentioned in the Welsh or Scottish Conservative manifestos, or any campaign literature. Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, was heckled about the Downing Street party scandal at the Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto launch on Thursday.

       Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Davey were at the centre of the Labour and Liberal Democrat campaign launches. Both have also made multiple appearances on the campaign trail across the country – something the Prime Minister is yet to do.

       While Sir Keir and Sir Ed appear in adverts being promoted by the Conservatives on Facebook, there is no sign of Mr Johnson in their online campaign materials. Images of the two opposition leaders accompany captions that read “Stop Labour’s council tax waste here” and “Stop Lib Dems’ council tax waste here”.

       Mr Johnson appeared in a local election advert last spring, promoting his party’s record on crime in addition to a separate clip about the Hartlepool by-election.

       At the time, the Conservatives enjoyed a “vaccine bounce” in popularity and won the seat from Labour, but they have dropped in the opinion polls since the “partygate” revelations.

       A Conservative source insisted the local election campaign had been launched at the spring conference and said it was “nonsense” to suggest Mr Johnson had been airbrushed out of the campaign.

       The source said: “The campaign was launched at the spring conference as usual. There was no such launch last year. The PM has several full days of campaigning in his diary very soon. Associations run their own local campaigns. They are not centrally directed, and haven’t been for at least 100 years.”

       Conservative sources said both Mr Johnson and Mr Dowden “clearly spoke about the locals and campaigning for Conservative councils in their speeches”.

       Mr Johnson said in his keynote conference speech: “Do we want them running our councils where we know that up and down the country Labour councils cost you more and Conservatives deliver better services?

       “Let me tell you when you go out campaigning in the next few weeks, as we all will, joyfully. Let me tell you that my message to everybody on the doorstep is that it is Conservatives… who get things done, even when they look difficult.”