KEY Labour strategists secretly plotted against their own party candidate as they supported Independent Ray Mallon in his race to become Middlesbrough Mayor, The Northern Echo can reveal today.

Mr Mallon, the ex-Cleveland police officer famously dubbed Robocop for his no-nonsense approach to crime, reveals in a BBC documentary how he persuaded strategists with Middlesbrough's Labour Party to help him with his mayoral campaign.

He shows how he enlisted their help by using methods honed by infiltrating the criminal underworld to cultivate informants at Middlesbrough Council and the local Labour group.

The documentary shows how Mr Mallon and his aides formed a "kitchen cabinet" which met in secret to plot every move of his campaign.

The trusted inner circle was helped by two key Labour Party members who fed the Mallon campaign crucial information.

One Labour mole tells the former head of Middlesbrough CID: "People who would normally associate themselves with Labour have found a naturally spokesperson in you."

Another reveals the sense of despair felt by local Labour activists as the Mallon campaign began to take off, accepting their "real push" was to prevent them coming third.

The programme, Trouble at the Top - Robocop's Revenge, follows Mr Mallon for several months during the build-up to his landslide victory as Middlesbrough's first directly-elected mayor.

Last night, Mr Mallon said he was well aware of some of the things which were said about him but he was determined not to get involved in personal attacks.

"It's no secret that my campaign was supported by people from across the political spectrum," he said.

Labour's mayoral candidate, Councillor Sylvia Connolly, who is retiring from politics in two months, said she knew party members were plotting against her, but did not know who they were at the time

"If the party fails to stop this kind of thing, it's the party's fault rather than the individuals. It's treachery, but it is treachery that the party allows," she said.