February Conservatives were urged to vote AGAINST their party s own candidate in local elections. The South Cambridgeshire Conservative Association selected Bob Poulter as their candidate in the Mordens ward for the South Cambridgeshire District Council e

February

Conservatives were urged to vote AGAINST their party's own candidate in local elections.

The South Cambridgeshire Conservative Association selected Bob Poulter as their candidate in the Mordens ward for the South Cambridgeshire District Council elections.

However, Jeremy Fordham, Chairman of the Mordens and Abington Pigott's branch of the Conservatives, said he and his members backed long-serving independent candidate Cicely Murfitt.

Mr Fordham said: "I believe I will be speaking for the majority when I say we wish for Cicely Murfitt to continue to represent us, independent of party interests."

He added that he believed Mr Poulter, who did not live in the ward, had been selected to further "the ambitions of a few people seeking to retain their local power base."

A Tory Party spokesman said: "As long as the candidate satisfies electoral laws it is not necessary for them to live in the specific ward which they plan to represent."

Mrs Murfitt, who had been a councillor in the Mordens for six years, was eventually re-elected, polling 547 votes, more than double Mr Poulter's total.

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Police were called to Royston Town Football Club after an on-pitch brawl between Royston and opponents Stony Stratford Town escalated. No arrests were made.