CONSERVATIVE party bosses have sacked one of their most senior Hampshire officials in a row that threatens to leave their General Election campaign in tatters.

For more than half a century Clifford Combes, picture above, has served the Conservative Party through thick and thin.

In return he has suffered the ultimate humiliation of being sacked as chairman of the Southampton Itchen branch in a row over who should fight for the seat at the next general election.

Mr Combes was called to a special meeting at which party bosses removed him from his role and informed him that Tory Central Office was taking control of the association's affairs.

The move means that local Tories will no longer be able to select their own candidate to take on sitting Labour MP John Denham.

Bosses at the party's London headquarters will now choose the candidate to fight the General Election, widely expected to be held in May.

City Conservatives fear their general election campaign is now in tatters.

Tory insiders say they are "furious" over the way that Mr Combes was told about the decision.

And they say that the 160-strong membership of the local party will be "extremely reluctant" to pound the streets handing out leaflets and campaigning for a candidate who has been imposed on them from London.

One Itchen Tory insider, who did not want to be named, said: "Members will not go out of their way to help the candidate.

"We have not got anybody who would work to do that. They will have no workers delivering leaflets."

The row comes after Tory Central office ruled that Conservative councillor Royston Smith could not contest the seat because he was ruled out of the party's approved "list".

Tory insiders suspect that when the official candidate is chosen he or she will fit the new "politically correct" agenda for modernisers in the Tory party.

Party bosses in London have recently tried to update the perceived "white middle class male" profile of the party by selecting candidates who are women, gay or from ethnic minorities.

Mr Combes, who has been a member of the Conservative party for 56 years and chairman of the Southampton Itchen branch for the past two, was called to a special meeting in Romsey where he was officially informed of the decision to remove him from the chairmanship. He will still remain a member of the Conservative Party.

The Daily Echo understands that Mr Combes, 86, was informed of Central Office's decision by fax earlier this week.

He was called to a special meeting with Romsey Tory party deputy chairman (political) Tony Forward, who will effectively take over the running of the local party and its selection of the candidate to fight the Itchen seat.

Mr Combes said: "It is very sad to have this sort of thing. They are almost fighting their own people."

Itchen Conservatives deputy chairman Councillor Adrian Johnson said: "It is a great shame that it has come to this. It is a shame that the voluntary wing of the party is being treated this way."

Councillor Smith ruled out standing in the Itchen seat as an Independent Conservative candidate.

He said: "The election of a Parliamentary candidate is a matter for the local association and the Conservative party and I will continue to work to achieve a Conservative government and to ensure Michael Howard becomes the next Conservative Prime Minister."

A Conservative party spokesman said: "We have a very strict rule that only people who are on the approved list of candidates can be considered for a seat."