TONY Blair is facing an unusual General Election challenge - from a man due to be prosecuted as a traitor.
David Shayler, the former MI5 officer, is planning to stand for the Sedgefield constituency in County Durham as an independent.
Mr Shayler, formerly of Middlesbrough, is currently in exile in Paris. He could be arrested under the Official Secrets Act if he comes back to the UK.
To stand as a General Election candidate, he will have to be free. However, he has already won a promise from the Crown Prosecution Service he will be granted bail when he returns to the UK in early September.
Mr Shayler said: "I'll be fighting Mr Blair on a campaigning anti-sleaze ticket as an independent.
"Mr Blair has a moral legal duty to reveal the truth on what the secret services have been doing in our name, but have been unaccountable for."
John Burton, Mr Blair's constituency agent, said: "The next General Election will be fought on the extra money spent on schools, the 1m extra jobs created and record low inflation under the current Government. I don't think Mr Shayler can answer that."
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