Tory activists shunned a string of David Cameron's favoured election candidates to pick a local man as their next Parliamentary hopeful.

In a move which will be seen as a thinly-veiled snub to their leader, grass roots members in Hove and Portslade chose the only one of four shortlisted candidates not put forward by Conservative Central Office Hove resident Mike Weatherley.

Mr Weatherley, a Crawley borough councillor and former finance controller for music mogul Pete Waterman, will go head to head with Hove and Portslade MP Celia Barlow at the next General Election.

Music-mad Mr Weatherley, who says he loves the sound of "screaming guitars" and once appeared on stage with Iron Maiden, was not one of the 100 socalled A-list Parliamentary candidates Mr Cameron hand-picked to lead the party back to power.

Mike Long, chairman of the Brighton and Hove Conservative Group, denied the selection of a non A-lister was a snub aimed directly at Mr Cameron.

The A-listers Mr Weatherley beat by securing more than 50 per cent of the Tory party members-only ballot on Tuesday night were Tariq Ahmad, Priti Patel and Simon Walker.

Mr Long said: "The A-list was a list of 100 very good candidates which was designed to be guidance.

"But the party has said in cases where strong local candidates are available they were perfectly happy for us to select a local person. I think we have the right man for the job."

Mr Weatherley said: "The other candidates were on the A-list but I think the party members have gone for the person who knows the area and the person who can do the job."

Mr Weatherly said he was confident of beating Miss Barlow and snatching the marginal seat back.