DAVID Munro, the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner, has delivered a stinging attack on the Conservative leadership after he was expelled from the party.

Mr Munro said that if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, “life will be easier for international criminals”.

He said a “no deal” exit would mean that “all the carefully negotiated arrangements, such as the European Arrest Warrant, will disappear and it will be difficult to replace them.”

The PCC was speaking to the News & Mail after receiving an email telling him he had been expelled from the party he joined more than 30 years ago.

“In these new intolerant days, I’m being accused of campaigning against Conservative candidates. This is a lie - I have never, in over 20 years’ service to the party, campaigned against the party. Most recently, I worked hard in the May 2019 local elections to help Conservatives all over the county,” he said.

The move follows his deselection as the Conservative candidate in the PCC elections in May next year after a secret ballot of Surrey party members in December.

“I decided it was no longer appropriate for me to belong to the Conservative association of PCCs. The association is informal and doesn’t have strict discipline. I joined the independent group, which has never met.

“I was told that by default I was campaigning against Conservative candidates,” Mr Munro said.

He campaigned for and voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, but said he accepted the result and thought the Withdrawal Agreement presented by former prime minister Theresa May was a good deal.

He said it would be “very undesirable” from a policing perspective to leave with no deal, adding “the police will make do – the police are good at that.”

“I am appalled by the shenanigans in Parliament. I will be offering to campaign for the three Surrey MPs expelled from the Conservatives standing as moderate Conservatives at the next general election.” He was referring to Guildford MP Anne Milton, former Chancellor Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge) and East Surrey MP Sam Gyimah.

Mr Munro said he was entitled to appeal against his expulsion from the Conservative Party “but I don’t want to belong to a club that doesn’t want me.”

For the full story, get the 12 September edition of the News & Mail