Family at war
A Wigan councillor is to be challenged at the polls by his own son because he left his wife for another woman.
Richard Clayton Jnr, will go head to head against his father, Tory councillor Richard Clayton, 65, because he is concerned about his behaviour.
Wigan Conservatives today confirmed that are now taking legal advice about the challenge.
Voters on May 1 face further confusion because both Claytons have given the same Church Street address for their candidature.
Mr Clayton Jnr, 38, admits he is "partially" battling his dad as a protest against his father's conduct and says he is concerned about Coun Clayton's refusal to heed earlier pleas to stand down because of
it.
This follows Coun Clayton's decision to leave his wife Marjorie, earlier this year, to move in with his new partner, 46-year-old divorcee and former Orrell St Luke's Deputy Church Warden, Lorraine Case.
The couple now live in a picturesque stone cottage almost opposite Coun Clayton's former marital home.
But Coun Clayton said that he was "sad and disappointed" that his son has decided to stand as a candidate against him and that his personal life shouldn't become a factor in the elections.
However, self-employed green energy business advisor Mr Clayton jnr hit back by claiming Conservative officials had mounted a "extremely aggressive campaign of harassment" of his mother, in their attempts to get him to withdraw his candidature.
But Mr Clayton jnr, who divides his time between living at a home in Up Holland and with his girlfriend and mother of his son in Orrell, is confident that any legal threat to his eligibility to stand will "come to nothing."
And he insists that as a former Wigan Rugby League junior and Orrell Rugby Union senior player with "many, many friends" in the village, he stands a good chance of attracting a "reasonable" vote.
His campaign will be "environmental and on-line based" and will also include the fight against the closure of Orrell Library
Mr Clayton said: "I was already concerned about how my father's behaviour related to the councillor's Code of Conduct and the decision by him to cross the road and move in with this woman was the icing on the cake which helped make up my mind to stand.
"The Conservative Party have subsequently been trying to come up with ways of discrediting me and my electoral campaign and I will be very surprised if they don't put in an objection, but I am not the one who has done anything wrong.
"I wasn't comfortable with certain things about my father's moral conduct as a councillor and the way the Conservative party branch have responded when they were voiced to them and to the people above them at the regional Conservative office.
"I told my father that if he didn't agree to stand down voluntarily because of this I would stand against him as an independent.
"I don't think he believed me at that time although now he knows I was always serious about it.
"Getting to my mother and asking her to try and persuade me not to stand is a disgraceful tactic because I am an adult and know my own mind. I just don't appreciate that kind of behaviour and that makes me all the more determined to do well in the election."
Coun Clayton said: "I am saddened that Richard is using the electoral system to settle a family dispute.
"I believe that my personal life should be separate from my public role as a councillor.
"I am sorry if my actions have hurt other people but I sincerely hope that the people of Orrell will only judge me on my record of service to the local community of Orrell.
"The correct place to resolve this dispute is behind closed doors within the family and not in the glare of the public during the course of the local election campaign.
"I have enjoyed being a councillor for Orrell for the last four years and during the course of that time I have helped hundreds of people and have always put the people of Orrell first.
"I am seeking re-election and I hope that the people of Orrell will judge me on my record as a local councillor and my work for the local community."
Other candidates standing in the Orrell ward are: Mike Barnes (Lab); Charles Mather (BNP)
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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