LONDON - Former UK Conservative Party deputy chairman Howard Flight has sought legal advice over moves by the party leadership to stop him standing as a Tory candidate in a general election expected in less than six weeks.
Flight stepped down from his party role on Thursday after he said the Conservatives were hiding the scale of planned spending cuts, an embarrassing gaffe that dominated political news over the otherwise quiet Easter holiday weekend.
Flight wants to fight the ban stopping him from standing for the seat of Arundel and South Downs, saying he had the support of his local Conservative Association.
While Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party was quick to make political capital from the spat, the Conservative Party stuck to its guns that Flight would not be allowed to stand as a Tory because the party whip had been withdrawn.
"Under the terms of the party constitution, an individual can only stand as a candidate for the Conservative Party if they are on the approved list of candidates," a party spokesman said in a weekend statement.
"MPs are only on the approved list if they are in receipt of the Conservative Party whip. The Conservative whip has been withdrawn from Howard Flight and he will therefore not be a candidate in the forthcoming general election.
"The decision by Howard Flight to consult his lawyers does not change the rules which govern the party."
In an effort to end the damaging public rift Tory leader Michael Howard insisted the decision to bar Flight was legal and binding and had been taken to underscore its election pledges.
"This was a very important decision to take. The legal position is very clear," he told a news conference. "The only promises we make are promises we know we can keep. We are not saying one thing in private and something else in public."
Flight quit as deputy chairman after the Times newspaper obtained a recording of him telling Conservative supporters the scale of cuts in a future Tory government was being concealed because "whatever the fine principles, you have to win an election first".
He also said some party proposals were "nakedly political". He said after an election "you can actually get on with what needs to be done".
- REUTERS
Former Conservative deputy chair seeks legal advice
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.