GEOFFREY Clifton-Brown has been slammed for campaigning in Cheltenham on the same day as a hustings event for Cotswold parliamentary candidates in Cirencester, which he failed to attend.

Conservative candidate for Ashford, Damian Green, posted a photo of himself and fellow Tory candidate Mr Clifton-Brown campaigning alongside Cheltenham candidate Alex Chalk last Tuesday.

Later that night, four of the other Cotswold candidates appeared at a hustings event at Cirencester Baptist Church, with Mr Clifton-Brown having previously announced he would not be attending.

Mr Clifton-Brown did not wish to comment on the matter when approached.

However, when asked last month why he would not be attending the hustings, a spokesman for the candidate said: “Geoffrey has a very carefully timed election programme which has been meticulously planned and prepared.

“This schedule runs from Monday to Saturday over the entire course of the election campaign and will enable him to visit and meet residents across virtually all of the 110 villages in the vast Cotswolds constituency and to spend more time in the 11 market towns.

He said: “In all previous elections none of the other candidates have even begun to have this sort of extensive electioneering programme, which of course Geoffrey could not do if he agreed to spend my entire time debating with the other candidates across the Cotswolds.”

He said, this election Mr Clifton-Brown agreed to participate in two debates – one in Wotton-under-Edge and one on BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

“He also contacted Cirencester Baptist Church at the beginning of the election campaign to organise a debate but was informed that this was of no interest,” he added.