CLLR Douglas Spencer unsuccessfully stood as a prospective councillor in the Redhill and Northbourne ward in the May 2007 elections.

He made it onto Bournemouth council after winning the Winton East by-election in May 2008 and immediately got off to a controversial start, using his victory speech to attack the Liberal Democrats and forcing his agent to apologise for his behaviour.

Before coming to Bournemouth, he was a councillor for Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council and was town mayor of Bicester on two occasions.

In his mid-50s, he is openly gay and has previously told the Echo he lives with his partner in a Bournemouth town centre flat.

According to the council’s register of interests, he works as an invigilator at Avonbourne School but does not have any interests in companies or businesses.