A FORMER Tory councillor who was suspended for refusing to pay his tax bill has announced he will stand for the Brexit Party at the next Westminster election.
Sebastian Leslie, the father of Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie, claimed to have stopped paying tax for his castle in protest “against corruption in the Scottish justice system”.
Currently sitting as an independent on Aberdeen City Council, he has now announced he will be challenging Tory MP Colin Clark for his Gordon seat at the next general election.
While hitting out at the SNP, he vowed to give “as much independence to Scotland as we can”.
He told the Press and Journal: “The Brexit Party are putting out a set of policies that we believe will really appeal to the people of Scotland.
“The error to date of the SNP has been to try and create an independent Scotland in Europe and in the process, give away our farming, fishing and oil and gas.
“The Brexit Party approach is to give as much independence to Scotland as we can, so the Highlands can run own their own affairs and the lowlands without the centralisation of politics in Edinburgh”.
Leslie said he would remain as an independent on Aberdeenshire Council, adding: “I went from Conservative to independent, it would unacceptable to move again from independent to Brexit Party.”
The clan chief, who represents the West Garioch ward, was suspended until June this year after racking up £2535.59 in debt. He finally paid off the bill in February.
READ MORE: Tory councillor and father of Game of Thrones star finally pays off tax bill
Tory candidate Clark, speaking to the Press and Journal, dismissed Leslie’s challenge.
He insisted: “All the polling shows the Boris factor will wipe them out.
“We need to get back to the things that matter to people health care, education and jobs.”
A Brexit Party spokesman, who confirmed Leslie had been interviewed to represent the party, hit back at Clark.
“Given the litany of betrayal by politicians of all stripes elected to Westminster it’s obviously the case that Mr Clark has the memory of a goldfish, he can be assured that his constituents have memories of elephants,” he told the Press and Journal.
Leslie caused outrage in 2017 when he accused them of crying “crocodile tears” over Tory welfare cuts.
After hearing the switch to Universal Credit would cause hardship to Scots in the run-up to Christmas, Leslie said: “It’s not good enough for my colleagues across the chamber … to cry crocodile tears when they’ve had a government since 2007 in Scotland that’s taken money from our budget.”
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