The row over the sacking of Howard Flight was reignited last night after a new political party vowed to woo the sacked Tory MP's supporters.

The Protest Vote Party (PVP) will field a General Election candidate in the former Conservative Party deputy chairman's Arundel and South Downs constituency.

The newly-formed party's leader, Mark Stack, will be contesting the seat.

Mr Stack, 40, an IT consultant from Brighton, insisted his party was apolitical and had been formed to offer the electorate a chance to vote for "None of the Above".

He said: "In the case of Arundel and South Downs, we want to offer local voters the right to reject Michael Howard's decision to remove Mr Flight in this very safe Conservative seat."

If he is successful, Mr Stack has vowed to immediately resign as the sitting MP in order to force a by-election.

He said: "This is a seat we believe we can win as the voters will know that, if elected, we will resign, allowing for another Tory candidate to take the seat in the by-election, possibly Mr Flight himself."

Lack of funds means the PVP will probably field just one candidate this time but aims to put forward 100 candidates at the following General Election.

Mr Stack said: "One of the objectives of the Protest Vote Party is to draw attention to and encourage reform of those practices and processes of the British political system deemed ridiculous and nonsensical by the average taxpayer."

Nick Herbert, the candidate chosen by the Conservatives to fight for Mr Flight's seat, said the new party would probably not win much support as most Tory voters wanted to draw a line under recent events.

Mr Flight, who is asking people to support the Tory candidate, said: "Nick is a bright and decent man and has no involvement with my circumstances."

West Sussex County Council councillor Derek Deedman, selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Arundel and South Downs, said a number of Tory voters were unhappy over the sacking of Mr Flight.

He said: "Mr Stack is fully entitled to stand for whatever he wants.

"What I deplore is the suggestion that if he was elected he would immediately resign. That would just incur additional costs for taxpayers."

Sharon Whitlam, Labour's candidate for Arundel and South Downs, was unavailable for comment.

Friday, April 15