Tim Yeo’s local Conservative association in South Suffolk have deselected the 68-year-old MP via secret ballot last night, the BBC reports. Yeo was only recently reinstated as chair of the Energy and Climate Change select committee after the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards ruled he had not broken rules on lobbying.
As Yeo has previously said he wants to stand again in 2015, he can now either appeal or apply to be the new candidate for South Suffolk. His majority is 8,689.
There is some theorising this morning about whether this is about the ‘green crap’ row over green levies and taxes on energy bills. Yeo is an outspoken supporter of renewable energy and often clashes with his Conservative colleagues over supporting climate change. But this is far too Westminster-centric a theory. Guido Fawkes has been following this battle with great interest for some time, predicting this latest development a few weeks ago. It is about the relationship between the MP and his association and the amount of work or otherwise that they feel he has been doing.
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