More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Questions are being raised as to whether Charlie Elphicke will stand as a Conservative candidate for Dover in next months' general election.
Despite direct inquiries to him and his constituency office it has not so far been formally confirmed that he will.
A spokesman for the Conservative Central Office said: "Selections are still ongoing."
Yet a number of rival candidates have already been confirmed as standing, such as Charlotte Cornell for Labour and Beccy Sawbridge for the Greens.
And fellow Conservatives such as Damian Green and Damian Collins have already been confirmed as candidates, in their cases Ashford and Folkestone and Hythe.
The answer would have to come by next Thursday, November 14 when nominations close.
Elphicke, a three-time winner of the Dover seat for the Tories, was by today not even confirmed as an independent candidate.
According to Conservative Party rules a candidate representing the body cannot be chosen if they have had the whip removed.
That was done to Elphicke in July when he was charged with three counts of sexual assault.
He could stand if the whip was restored.
Elphicke had originally had the whip withdrawn on November 3, 2017, before he had been charged with any offence and before any allegations against him were specified.
From the beginning he denied any wrongdoing.
He had the whip restored 13 months later before Theresa May's confidence vote.
This change in status still means he is MP for the Dover constituency and a member of the Conservative Party until Parliament is dissolved.
But he has the status of an independent MP so does not have to obey any party whips in terms of voting in the House of Commons.
The Crown Prosecution Service charged him with three counts of sexual assault against two women.
The alleged offences were said to have happened in 2007 and 2016 but he has always denied the allegations.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 6 when he pleaded not guilty to all three counts.
The alleged three sexual assaults are said to have happened once to a woman in 2007 and twice to another woman in 2016.
A pre-trial review took place on October 4 at Southwark Crown Court and Elphicke will stand trial there later.
Elphicke, a 48-year-old married father-of-two, was first elected to the Dover constituency in 2010 and retook the seat in the 2015 and 2017 general elections.
He has had comfortable majorities of at least 5,000-plus. In the June 2017 poll he had his highest majority, 6,437.
The statement for persons nominated will be published on November 14 by Dover District Council's returning officer.
