A LIBERAL Democrat was given the council chamber equivalent of a red card last night as election warfare broke out with the Tories.

An astonishing attack was launched on the Conservative leadership by Councillor Paul Lambourne – the ex-High Wycombe Mayor who recently defected to the Lib Dems.

But it was his new party colleague Cllr Trevor Snaith who was told to leave the meeting after being accused of breaching rules on party political statements during an election period.

Asking a question on investing in affordable homes and the money raised by the transfer of Wycombe District Council's housing stock, he angered Conservatives by giving a website address for the Lib Dem manifesto for the May 5 elections.

He insisted, despite being told he was breaching political 'purdah', his question had been given the thumbs up by officers prior to the meeting.

He attempted to continue his point, raising his voice over howls of derision from the Conservative side of the chamber, but was told his behaviour was 'unacceptable' by Chairman Bill Bendyshe Brown, Tory, who told him to leave.

Cllr Snaith today told the Bucks Free Press his question was 'valid', said it was 'unfair' to make him leave and claimed Cllr Bendyshe-Brown's decision showed political 'bias'.

But Cllr Bendyshe-Brown said this afternoon: “What else could I do? I asked him to stop and he carried on quoting from the manifesto.

“My job is to be apolitical and I certainly wasn't being political last night.

"I was being quite even handed, I did warn him but he started speaking over me.”

The animosity between those in the yellow and blue camps was stirred by Cllr Lambourne – speaking at the council chamber for the first time since crossing the floor.

He tore into his former party's leadership, saying it was now “a dictatorship”.

“Public perception is that you have lost the art of listening,” he said.

“You have refused to listen to residents over the stadium, refused to listen to the genuine concerns raised by the chairman of the Improvement and Review Commission (Cllr Alex Collingwood), will you refuse to listen to the survey by the Bucks Free Press?”

Leader Cllr Lesley Clarke, Tory, replied: “I, for one, wouldn't have crossed the floor.

“I do have to say you're totally wrong, we do listen, we always have listened.

“I don't think the public perception is we are not listening.

“We are not the people who are building the stadium.”

She told Cllr Lamborne to “pull your (own) ears back and listen”.

She added, on the BFP survey, it was only 1,800 out of 160,000 people in the district.

The survey found less than one in five backed the idea of the community stadium.

Cllr Clarke said meetings with stakeholders had recently taken place over the stadium and a timeline had been published making it clearer for residents.