Tories amaze me.

I am amazed by a Tory tale that I have just heard. They are saying Libdem Claire Kelley lost a seat in 2005 and is dishonest in saying she stood from the county coucnil. Here's what actually happened.

In 2005 Claire did stand down as a county councillor in Harrogate and I was elected in her place, partly due to her excellent reputation. As she has said, Claire needed to spend more time with her children who were going through challenging exam times.

At the same time we needed a county council candidate in Bedale, where the leader of the Tory County Council was standing. Although we knew we could not win, we wanted to give Bedale residents the opportunity to vote Liberal Democrat. Claire offered to put her name forward, and in the event over 1,200 votes were cast for her, but of course the Tory candidate secured the seat as expected.

So come on Harrogate Conservatives do you have to be so negative in your campaigning?

And by the way I was re-elected in 2009.