THE Conservative leader of Christchurch Council has been axed by his own party.

Long serving Cllr David Flagg, who led the political and legal battle to keep Christchurch out of the merger with Bournemouth and Poole was deselected by the constituency’s ‘approval committee’.

He told the Echo: “After serving as a local councillor for 20 years in Burton, representing the town as mayor and being leader, it seems I am no longer good enough. It’s clear my face doesn’t fit.”

He added: “Someone else used the phrase political cleansing in the context of a selection process in Poole and I think there is something of that here.

“I detect the hand of Bournemouth’s Conservative leadership here and I think the people of Christchurch should worry about the future of the borough in the new unitary council.”

The council fought against the merger, taking the case to judicial review earlier this year, but the case was dismissed.

He worked closely with MP Sir Chris Chope on the issue - which angered pro-merger councillors like Cllr Ray Nottage who was deposed as leader two years ago.

Cllr Nottage has led a nine-strong Tory opposition to the official Conservative leadership on the council ever since.

The approval committee, which all Tory candidate have to be ratified by before going forward for selection by local branches, met eight weeks ago but councillors have only just been advised of the outcome.

It was chaired by Cllr Ray Bryan, chairman of Christchurch and East Dorset Conservative Association and included, Cllr Spencer Flower leader of East Dorset, former Christchurch councillor Mike Winfield and former agent, Wendy Keene and a Tory official.

The vote was a secret ballot.

Cllr Bryan said: “This is a new council and it was not a matter of anyone being deselected. We have to reduce the number of councillors, so there will be casualties. We are losing some good people.”

He said it was all about how candidates performed on the day and not about their track record.

When asked if he thought it extraordinary that a sitting council leader had not made it past the first hurdle, he added he had to abide by the rules.

“This is not a matter of political cleansing. I would not take part in anything like that.”

The deputy leader of Christchurch, Cllr Trish Jamieson, has been approved to stand.

Other Tory are casualties are former mayors, Cllr Nick Geary of Highcliffe and Sue Spittle who represents St Catherines ward.

Mr Winfield, also a former mayor of the borough and currently chairman of Highcliffe Conservatives said he did not feel able to comment on the issue at the moment. A number of long serving councillors in Bournemouth and Poole have also failed to make it past the approval process, including Dave Smith, Chris Mayne and Elaine Atkinson.