Beleaguered Tory MP Howard Flight pleads 'Let the People Decide'

Yesterday (Wednesday) local party officials were meeting senior figures in the Conservative leadership at Westminster, who were expected to discuss possible names to take the place of Mr Flight's on the general election ballot paper.

That is the price Mr Flight may have to pay for appearing to suggest in a private speech that the Conservatives were planning far bigger spending cuts, should they win the election, than they were admitting in public.

Within hours of that story breaking, Mr Flight had resigned as the party's deputy chairman, and soon afterwards Tory leader Michael Howard withdrew the party whip from the MP and said he would not be allowed to stand as a Conservative at the next election.

Mr Flight's fate could be decided at two crucial meetings set to take place next week. On Monday, the constituency's Conservative association executive is expected to draw up a candidates shortlist based on the names given to them in London yesterday, and on Wednesday there is likely to be a meeting for the 2,000- strong membership to make the final selection.

The MP remained defiant this week, claiming on Tuesday that advice from the leading barrister on the matter confirmed that only the local party members, and not the national party leadership, could bar him from standing as a Conservative candidate.

However the constituency's Conservative agent, Russell Tanguay, insisted that Mr Flight would not be the party's candidate, and that a new candidate would be chosen.

Just how damaging Mr Flight's reported remarks will be to the Conservatives as a whole remain to be seen at election time, but the controversy has certainly placed local party supporters in an agonising situation.

Constituency president, Baroness Detta O'Cathain, described Michael Howard's sacking of the MP as "brutal", and several members of Arun District Council's cabinet voiced strong support for the embattled Mr Flight.

There was a sign, however, that the tide could be turning against the MP yesterday, when leader of Arun District Council, Norman Dingemans, paid tribute to Mr Flight, but also called for the local association to move on.

Mr Dingemans said: "He was good. He attended meetings and kept everyone informed of what was happening. He and his wife, Christabel, often came along to functions.

"It is a fact that it has happened. We've got to move on. Michael Howard has to show himself as a strong leader and it is difficult for him to come back from the position he is in.

"I think you have to accept what has been done."

Mr Dingemans added: "We need to resolve it fairly quickly. It is damaging the Conservative party's standing in the country and you have to say that the party is bigger than the individual, whether you like it or not."

Mr Dingemans said the looming general election meant the candidate would have to be chosen very quickly.

"We will be looking for somebody who can support the constituency. Somebody who is forward-looking, pro-active and who can rebuild the confidence of a lot of people in the association.

"We will be looking for somebody who is going to be able to take the agenda forward. It will be quite difficult, but I am sure the association will rally behind the new candidate."