Lifeline for deselected MP

Conservative Party chairman Francis Maude was expected to step into the row involving Tory members in South Staffordshire.

He was set to announce that the narrow vote to oust Sir Patrick should be declared null and void because of "irregularities".

The move by Tory HQ in London will mean that the constituency association will have to re-run the reselection process.

The irregularities are understood to surround the meeting of the South Staffordshire executive when Sir Patrick was told that his bid for reselection had been rejected in a secret ballot of executive members.

After complaints about the conduct of the meeting, Conservative officials carried out an investigation and concluded that it was not safe to let the deselection decision to stand.

Issues investigated are believed to include the number of ballot pers handed out at the meeting, whether all members of the executive were informed about the meeting, and a possible discrepancy between the number of votes cast and the number of people at the meeting.