A FORMER politician booted off Copeland Council for non-attendance has failed in his bid to win a seat 240 miles away in Herefordshire.

Michael Guest was kicked out of the West Cumbrian council when he did not turn up to a single meeting in six months but had hoped to revive his political career in the West Midlands.

Mr Guest had been nominated to stand as an Independent candidate in the district council elections for Herefordshire Council on May 2.

But he failed to win the Mortimer seat he was contesting, coming in last.

Conservative Carole Anne Gandy won 603 votes; Liberal Democrat Jonathan Mark Catling won 276; and Mr Guest won 245.

However, there was a small consolation for the former Copeland councillor who made it onto Leintwardine Group Parish Council for which there was no contested election.

The Local Democracy Reporting service asked Mr Guest if he thought news of his non-attendance in Copeland and the council’s subsequent decision, may have scuppered his election bid.

But he said he was not in a position to comment at this time.

He had been elected to serve Kells in Whitehaven as an Independent in 2015 but had been to 10 meetings out of a possible 36 in that time – netting him an average of more than £1,200 in taxpayer-funded allowances for every appearance.

Mr Guest, who had been battling cancer during at least some of his block of absences, moved to Herefordshire several months ago.

The nomination papers list his address as Leintwardine, a large village close to the border with Shropshire.

Mr Guest, a former mayor of Whitehaven, did not serve on any committees amid claims he could not be relied upon to turn up to them and was only expected to attend the monthly meeting of the full council.

He was also town councillor for the Kells ward until May when he was removed for the same reason.

A subsequent meeting of the town council descended into chaos and police were called when he refused to move into the public gallery despite no longer being a councillor.

A claim made against Whitehaven town council by Mr Guest over the ownership of two ceremonial medals from his time as mayor was dismissed in 2018.