FORMER Bournemouth council leader Stephen MacLoughlin is attempting a political comeback.

The Conservative was defeated by two votes at the council elections of 2011 after a series of controversies including the discovery of porn on his council laptop.

Now his name is appearing on campaign literature in the Queen’s Park ward, where he is set to stand for the borough council in 2015.

Queen’s Park councillor Mark Anderson said the party had not yet selected the three candidates who would fight the ward in 2015.

“I would assume Stephen will want to stand and will be our candidate but no decision has been made at the moment,” he said.

He added: “Over the last five years I’ve got to know Steve MacLoughlin and the impression that was given when he was leader of the council is not the impression I’ve got of the man now.

“I’ve learned so much from him. He’s incredibly helpful and has done a lot of things to help a lot of people.

“I’ve got to know him and I think he’s a very nice guy.

“He’ll do a lot for anyone if they ask him and he’s the kind of person we want as a councillor because he’s a got a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience.”

Mr MacLoughlin led the council from 2007 until his resignation from the top job in July 2010.

He had been under fire for months following the revelation that his council computer had been used to visit adult websites, even though his Conservative colleagues had backed him.

At the time of his resignation, he said the inquiry into his own conduct – along with stories surrounding three other councillors – had damaged the council. The coverage had distracted attention from “the successful policies the Conservative administration is pursuing to improve Bournemouth”.

Mr MacLoughlin, a chartered engineer, became a Conservative councillor in 1991, serving the old West Cliff ward and then the Central ward.

He stood as candidate for Southampton Test at the general election which gave Labour a solid majority in 2002. He also sought to become a parliamentary candidate in Dorset, seeking the nomination unsuccessfully in both Bournemouth West and Mid-Dorset and North Poole.

For the council elections of 2011, he moved to the Queen’s Park ward, where he was the only one of the three Tory candidates not to be elected.

His defeat by two votes against the Liberal Democrats came despite the Conservatives winning a landslide across the town.