Eric Pickles pledges to sack any party workers involved in dirty tricks during the election campaign

Eric Pickles has said that whilst he expects Labour to run a dirty election campaign, he will not tolerate any Conservatives following suit in retaliation.

Speaking to Jonathan Sheppard of ToryRadio in Manchester, the party chairman said:

"Of course it's going to be a dirty [Labour Party] campaign, we've seen that a lot in all the by-elections... the dirtier it is, the more it will backfire on those who seem to spread the dirt."

"I'm giving out straight advice: anybody does any dirty tricks from our side, we will sack them. Anyone does any dirty tricks in constituencies, we'll take a very firm disciplinary line on that. You can't be an open and transparent party and engage in dirty tricks."

Can we expect a similar promise from our political opponents? I'm not holding my breath...

Jonathan Isaby