No real surprises that the Conservatives have decided to drop David Ginley as a local election candidate in Halifax, though it is rather a puzzle as to how he got through to being a candidate again.

As the Halifax Courier reports:

HALIFAX Conservatives have suspended election candidate David Ginley while they investigate a complaint of possible “unethical” practices…

In 1993, Mr Ginley was ordered to do 200 hours of community service and told to pay £35 costs after voting twice in a council election.

He claimed that as he paid poll tax on two properties he should be entitled to two votes.

In 2003, Mr Ginley appeared before Calderdale magistrates and admitted two charges of forgery.

A court heard the offences arose from a dispute over an unpaid plumbing bill.

At the time he was warned he could face a jail sentence as he tried to deceive a district judge with a forged technical report.

Conviction for double voting and admission of forgery in attempt to deceive a judge weren’t reasons enough for the Tories to pass up on him as a 2012 candidate. But then,

IN a bid to win back his council seat, ex-Conservative councillor David Ginley allegedly asked someone to stand as a “Liberal” candidate.

This is understood to be the reason Mr Ginley was last week suspended from the Halifax Conservative Association and dropped as the party’s official candidate in Warley ward.

* Mark Pack is Party President and is the editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.