A DE-SELECTED Tory councillor has denied claims by her association chairman that she swore and screamed abuse at him on the telephone and made an inappropriate comment about terminally ill people.

Coun Marjorie Simpson was deselected by Stockton Conservatives when members were deciding on candidates for the local government elections in May.

In a letter to all constituents, party chairman James Wharton says Coun Simpson was ousted after a number of members raised concerns about her behaviour and beliefs.

The letter says: "Mrs Simpson has acted in a bullying manner towards local party members, other councillors and officers of the association.

"When taken in conjunction with the unacceptable policy statement made by her, in front of other councillors and staff of Stockton Borough Council, the executive took the decision that she would no longer be allowed to represent the party at local government level."

Mr Wharton goes on to accuse Coun Simpson of making a number of "aggressive and abusive" telephone calls, one of which he claims involved her "screaming abuse and obscenities" at him for about 20 minutes.

He adds that when discussing the costs of housing provision for the terminally ill, Coun Simpson said the extra funding should not be provided as it did not matter "when someone is going to die anyway".

Coun Simpson refuted the claims and said she was still considering taking legal action against the executive for libel.

She told the D&S Times: "I certainly was not screaming and I don't swear. I don't use obscenities down the phone at all.

"He (Mr Wharton) is very good at embroidering the facts.

"The truth is I was very angry at what I saw as treachery to Yarm. I did give him a very good telling off - I don't take prisoners when somebody does something like that.

"I am outspoken, but I am not violent."

She said the quote about the terminally ill had been taken completely out of context.

"What I said was extra funding does not matter when people are about to die, they should have proper funding when they need it.

"There is an example of a terminally ill man in the borough and all he wanted was a handrail fitted on his staircase so he could get up and down to his bathroom. It took nine months to get it fitted and he died two days later.

"I have worked for the last four years and complained that people are not getting the funding when they need it."

Coun Simpson said she was angry and upset at the way she had been treated by Stockton Conservatives .

She said: "I don't think I am any different to anybody else. I am extremely upset at the way they have handled it and even contrived some of it."

She added: "They have crippled me so they can win.

"Yarm is a very important seat, so it would seem."

* Letters to the Editor: see page 23