Conservatives hope the selection of Nick Herbert as their candidate for Arundel and South Downs will bring to an end the episode which left the career of their MP in tatters.

But the debate about how much money governments should spend will not go away. Andy Tate reports.

Howard Flight must be wondering what on earth happened to his career.

Just over two weeks ago the hardworking Sussex MP and shadow minister was gearing up to defend his massive majority in Arundel and South Downs at the forthcoming General Election.

Then, at a private meeting, he let slip something about a "continuing agenda" of savings which Labour seized on as evidence of a secret Tory plan to slash investment in public services on their return to power.

Michael Howard's decision to sack Mr Flight may have won him a reputation for ruthlessness but it divided local party members.

The Conservative Association's vice-president, Harold Hall, spoke for many when he condemned the sacking as immoral and possibly illegal.

But once the decision had been made it would have been political suicide for Mr Howard to back down.

Perhaps it was this realisation that persuaded Mr Flight to rule himself out of standing as an independent and step aside peacefully for the sake of party unity.

Step forward Suffolk's Nick Herbert, think tank chief, occasional fox-hunter and the new Tory candidate for Arundel and South Down.

Mr Herbert, who is making hurried plans to find somewhere to live in his newly-adopted constituency, said he was confident local party members would fall in line.

The candidate, who celebrated his 42nd birthday yesterday, told The Argus: "Once Howard said he would not stand as an independent the whole party came together. I've got a very strong sense everyone is going to get behind me."

Mr Herbert refused to comment on whether Mr Flight's sacking was fair.

He paid tribute to his predecessor "for all the work he has done in the constituency and party" and said he hoped to "follow in his example".

It was an interesting choice of words. Labour has already picked up on an article written by Mr Herbert in 2002, when he was the director of right-wing think tank Reform, which suggests he shared some of Mr Flight's sentiments on tax and spending.

In the article, published in The Spectator, Mr Herbert criticised Mr Howard, then the shadow chancellor, for saying the needs of public services came before tax cuts.

He added: "The whisper is that there is a top secret, extremely clever strategy afoot go along with spending rises now but return to a tax-cutting agenda when if the party is re-elected. So the repositioning of the Tories is to be based on a lie."

Mr Herbert told The Argus his views had been misrepresented.

He said: "What I have said is I support party policy on this. We are going to offer carefully costed tax cuts and we are the only party to do so. I said exactly the same thing as Michael Howard. Parties must mean what they say."

Further digging reveals Mr Herbert, in his capacity as director of Reform, indicated his support for introducing charges in the NHS.

In a letter to The Telegraph last August he wrote: "Modest up-front charges lead to greater efficiency and responsiveness to patients. A system that is free at the point of use faces problems of unlimited demand."

Asked yesterday whether he still agreed with charges for the NHS he said: "No. Think tanks are there to offer bold ideas for the future. I'm standing on a policy of care free at the point of use. I accept the party's position on this. My previous job was to offer ideas for the future of our services."

His present job is to get elected.

Senior members of the local party said they would seek to put the events of the past fortnight behind them to concentrate on helping Mr Herbert win the battle for votes.

Paul Dendle, chairman of the Arundel branch of the Conservatives, said: "There was a lot of ill-feeling at the beginning of the selection meeting but now people's minds are focused on what we are there for to win the next election."

Stephen Brookman, district officer, said: "There's no doubt some damage has been done but Howard Flight made a very moving speech and did a great deal to calm people and try to repair that damage."

Despite the backing of party officers, hundreds of grassroots activists are expected to refuse to help Mr Herbert's campaign in protest at the treatment of Mr Flight, who had represented the constituency in Parliament since 1997.

One of those is Terry Walsh, who resigned from the party yesterday after being a member for 45 years.

Mr Walsh, from Pulborough, said: "The whole process has been totally undemocratic. Howard Flight was a superb MP and all he said was a Conservative Government would look at all possible means of saving public money. Isn't it the responsibility of any government to look at ways of cutting waste?"

The Flight affair is unlikely to make much of a difference to the result in Arundel and South Downs, where the Tories' majority at the last election was more than 13,000.

The real significance of the past fortnight has been to bring to the forefront of the national campaign the vital question of how much of taxpayers' money the Government should spend.

Friday, April 8