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'You should have slept with mayor's wife instead'
A TOP Sheffield Tory told a parliamentary candidate he had to quit for missing town council meetings – but may have been able to stay on had he "slept with the mayor's wife" instead.
Alan Ryder, deputy chairman of Sheffield Hallam Conservatives, emailed barman Daniel Gage, aged 24, after he stood down as the party's candidate against Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg at the general election.
Mr Gage claimed he was 'bullied' into halting his campaign after he was kicked off Dronfield Town Council for not attending enough meetings.
Mr Ryder told Mr Gage: "The fact is that once your council record became public knowledge your position as candidate became untenable.
"I don't think that you still fully appreciate how serious this was.
"If you had done anything else – such as 'sleeping with the mayor's wife' or whatever – then we could have got round it.
"But the council thing was a direct reflection on politics and the Lib Dems would have exploited that mercilessly.
"Also, there is a feeling among members that they were let down."
Mr Ryder added in the email: "It's simply not true to say that you weren't liked or supported by the association – you would not have won the ballot if that had been the case, would you?"
Mr Ryder later said: "It was a private email between two individuals.
"If anyone is offended, I'm sorry.
"It wasn't meant to be offensive."
Nick Clegg did not want to comment on the matter but Sheffield Hillsborough Labour MP Angela Smith said: "The remarks are unbelievably flippant and an insult to the current mayor.
"Clearly David Cameron's makeover of the Tory Party has yet to reach South Yorkshire.
"It was quite right to challenge their candidate because of his non-attendance as an elected councillor, but you would have thought any party worth its salt would have checked out his record before selecting him."
Mr Gage, who has been suspended from the parliamentary candidates list, is unhappy that other Conservatives on the town council did not warn him that his lack of attendance at some meetings was a problem.
He claims he had already resigned when the town council registered he had missed a sixth-monthly meeting and removed him from office.
He said: "I wasn't lazy. I attended 17 or 18 public meetings.
"I had worked really hard for my ward.
"I was the first on Dronfield Council to raise concerns about the Sheepbridge incinerator."
Mr Gage added: "Old fashioned Tories tried to orchestrate my resignation, and I think it stinks."
He claims the Sheffield Conservative Association had pressured the regional office into ending his campaign because they did not like his ideas.
A handful of city Conservatives have written to the Gareth Fox, the central candidates' officer, complaining about the way Mr Gage has been treated.
Margaret Laver, a Hallam constituent and former Young Conservative, said his resignation would 'prevent the bringing of a breath of fresh air into the Conservative Party'.
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Peter Treherne, of The Meadway, Dore, complained that the local party had 'been in a state of hibernation' since they lost Hallam, a safe seat for 80 years, to the Lib Dems in 1997, and urged Mr Fox not to accept Mr Gage's resignation.
He called on them to instruct the local committee to reinstate a 'young, local, dynamic candidate'.
Caroline Cooper, who was vetted by Tory HQ to stand for parliament, revealed she walked away after falling out with the local party: "All of us who have experience of Sheffield Conservatives would agree that it is constantly at loggerheads within its own ranks, and this makes the role of any candidate there extremely difficult.
"While it is the nature of politics to have to deal with differences of opinion and tactics to gain the upper hand, it is tiresome and demoralising when they come from your own association."
David Pinder, chair of the Sheffield Conservative Association, said he was 'not permitted to discuss candidates or selection procedures'.
A reselection process is under way.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
