Dominic Grieve threatened with deselection over Brexit stance after losing confidence vote
The move by the local association marks the first step to prevent the former attorney general from standing at the next election.
Saturday 8 June 2019 14:50, UK
The Pro-EU MP Dominic Grieve is facing possible deselection by local Conservative members following another confidence vote over his stance on Brexit.
The former attorney general, who supports another public referendum, lost a vote in his Buckinghamshire constituency by 142 to 119 on Friday night.
The Beaconsfield Constituency chairman will now write to Mr Grieve asking him to formally apply to be the area's MP for the next General Election.
In a tweet sent after last night's special general meeting, constituency chairman Jackson Ng said he understood there were feelings of "disappointment, anger and frustration" over the MP's views on Brexit.
The move by the local association is the first step in a process to prevent Mr Grieve from standing as the MP for Beaconsfield in the next General Election.
It is understood the former attorney general is under no immediate pressure to submit his letter to the local association.
The submission of a letter is a formality every sitting MP must go through in order to be re-adopted as the constituency's candidate.
However by requesting it now, the local association is ratcheting up the pressure on the pro-EU MP.
After receiving the request, the executive council will vote on whether to re-adopt Mr Grieve as their MP for the next General Election, which is currently due to take place in 2022.
If the former cabinet minister loses that vote, he can request a ballot of all 1,250 local party members.
A rejection by the wider membership would mean that Mr Grieve would have to take part in a candidate selection process ahead of the next General Election.
The Buckinghamshire MP has not commented on the development but previously blamed Tory member Jon Conway, a previous UKIP candidate for the area, for orchestrating the campaign to oust him.
Speaking after losing another confidence vote in March, Mr Grieve said dozens of new pro-Brexit members appeared to have joined his local party in order to try and deselect him.
Other Conservative MPs, including the Justice Secretary David Gauke, have also been threatened with no confidence votes over their stances on Brexit.