Michael Howard has defended his decision to force Howard Flight out of his Westminster seat.

The Conservative leader was speaking as the situation in the Arundel and South Downs constituency remained unclear.

Flight, who had been a party deputy chairman until his comments about Tory spending plans, has said it is for local party members rather than Conservative Central Office to decide if he should continue to represent the seat.

He is reported to be consulting lawyers about his next move.

But local constituency officials have already indicated that they will back Howard's judgement.

And in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the Conservative leader said Flight's comments were a "terrible let-down".

But he said the decision was "the right thing for the party and the right thing for the country".

"What I can't have is someone misrepresenting my view, misrepresenting what we do in government and suggesting that we say one thing in private and another thing in public," Howard added.

But the decision was questioned on Sunday by Lord Tebbit, a former Tory party chairman.

"The Flight affair may, or may not, affect the election outcome but we will never know," he wrote in the Independent on Sunday.

"But what a pity that the culture of spin, smear, distortion and lies should inhibit open public discussion over the costs of providing services such as health and education which all parties agree should be maintained.

"Between what is too risky to debate for fear of scaremongering distortion (or just plain lies) and what is politically incorrect to mention, there will soon be very little mainstream politicians can discuss with the electors."