A councillor who admitted breaching council rules by lobbying to become mayor will still stand for the role despite a further investigation being launched at a higher level.

Cllr Veronica Liote is on track to become the new mayor of Sandwich at the mayor making ceremony at The Guildhall tonight.

But as she takes the baton from Cllr Paul Graeme - who has admitted advising her to gain support for the position - there will be an independent probe by the monitoring officer at Dover District Council.

In a new statement, Cllr Graeme said: “In your article last week you quoted Cllr Liote as saying that I urged her to lobby for support.

"I do not deny that I advised her to gain support for her nomination as mayor. This is what any councillor colleague would advise and this must be replicated throughout any town or parish council throughout the UK.

"The issue here is the overzealous manner that Cllr Liote went about gaining support which gave rise to a complaint which was dealt with within Sandwich.

"This complaint has also now been passed to the monitoring officer at Dover District Council and the circumstances of the complaint will be assessed completely independently.

"This officer is very experienced in matters of this nature."

A Dover District Council spokesman was unable to confirm whether or not the complaint had been recieved.

He said: "Any complaints against councillors that may be received under the Code of Conduct are treated confidentially in their initial stages."

Deputy mayor Cllr Liote was caught out when a private email sent to colleagues in January was leaked to KentOnline's sister paper, The East Kent Mercury.

An accompanying letter which accused Tory-led Sandwich Town Council (STC) of covering up a complaint about Cllr Liote's actions was signed off by South Thanet Labour Party, but they have denied sending it.

Within the email, Cllr Liote refers to the complaint before "freely" admitting to lobbying and "knowing it was against Standing Orders". She goes on to offer to resign.

But Cllr John Bragg, the Conservative leader of STC, has denied a cover-up.

He said the council took legal advice from the Kent Associations of Local Councils (KALC), before a committee of three town councillors investigated and reviewed the complaint, concluding there was no case to answer.

The Mercury has requested the minutes of this committee meeting in order to see how that conclusion was reached but is yet to receive a response.

In the mean time, opposition members including Jeffrey Loffman, chairman of Sandwich & District Branch of the Labour Party, and Labour town councillor David Wood have voiced their support for Cllr Liote.

Cllr Wood said: "Whilst we in the Sandwich Branch of the Labour Party have had a number of serious concerns about Sandwich Town Council of late: the boatyard; the failure to use the Toll Bridge Fund charitably and purposefully for the good of the residents of Sandwich; the decision making around the Drill Hall to name but a few, Cllr Liote's prospective mayoralty is not a matter that has ever concerned us.

"In fact we welcomed it. She has been a hard working councillor. She does a lot for our community and I think she offers an open and inclusive approach which is very welcome and long overdue."

Cllr Graeme has also shared his view that even if the monitoring officer does deem Cllr Liote to have breached standing orders, he feels a mild reprimand would be a satisfactory punishment.

He concluded: "Our legal adviser at KALC has advised that so far as the standing order is concerned, while “appointment” could be widely construed, the clear purport of the standing order is to prevent the canvassing by candidates for staff appointments of members or by members.

"However, if the monitoring officer deems that this standing order has been breached, given the nature and the circumstances of the complaint, I would speculate that as there was no dishonesty involved or any pecuniary and financial benefit, the worst sanction that could passed would be a mild reprimand and advice to examine Standing Orders more closely and perhaps a suggestion that further training should take place.

"Cllr Liote has of course apologised.”