Fylde Conservative Party leader and Blackpool South candidate reacts to allegations against Mark Menzies

The Conservative candidate in the Blackpool South by-election has robustly denied claims he must have known about allegations against Fylde MP Mark Menzies before they became public.

David Jones is chairman of the Fylde Conservatives in Mr Menzies' constituency but has rebutted claims he must have known about the allegations 'for three months'.

Mr Menzies has been suspended from the Conservative Party after claims in The Times newspaper he misused party funds with the MP telling the newspaper he 'strongly' disputes the allegations.

Mr Jones was asked if he had known about the controversy during a hustings event at Blackpool Cricket Club on Thursday, April 18 attended by seven of the nine candidates standing in the by-election in the neighbouring constituency.

He said: "The party may have known for three months, I found out last night. That is all we can talk about while an investigation is on at this time."

He added the information had been shared with him probably "not long" before it became public.

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Asked how he could not have known, Mr Jones said it was "a confidential investigation and they would not share that with other people while the investigation is going on".

"Someone went to the newspapers of course and made that public, but it is still a private and confidential investigation of which we are waiting the results," he said.