Tories under fire as 'hidden cuts' revealed
British Conservative Party leader Michael Howard today fired his party’s former deputy chairman Howard Flight as a candidate at the general election.
Mr Howard withdrew the whip from Mr Flight, MP for Arundel and South Downs, meaning he cannot stand as an official candidate.
Mr Flight resigned last night from his party post after implying the Conservatives were concealing their true spending plans from voters.
“Howard Flight will not be a Conservative candidate at this election,” said Mr Howard, in a hastily arranged Sky News interview. “If you believe in honesty you have to act on it. That’s why I have done what I have done today.”
The Tory leader's dramatic intervention came after Labour was cock-a-hoop at Mr Flight's remarks.
He had been instrumental in setting up the Tories’ James Review, which identified £35bn (€50bn) of Whitehall savings, which his party planned to plough into public services and use to fund tax cuts.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair led the Labour charge earlier today, saying: “The fundamental point is that the Conservative Party has not changed.
“An economic plan that even had the spending cuts they are admitting, never mind the ones they are hiding, would just take us right back to the economic risks, the under-investment in public services, the social division that people wanted to leave behind in 1997.
“That’s why it is important that the country does not go backwards.”
A Conservative spokeswoman said there was no prospect of the party whip being restored to Mr Flight.
“There isn’t anything Howard Flight can do,” she said. “We have to select a new candidate. He is not a Conservative candidate any more.”
