A CANDIDATE standing in George Osborne's Tatton constituency was threatened with being barred from standing if she didn't remove a photograph of the Chancellor of the Exchequer from an election handout.

In a David versus Goliath struggle, independent candidate, Julie Tempest, standing in the Cheshire East Council and Knutsford Town Council elections, was warned by Mr Osborne's constituency lawyer that failure to delete the photo of him sharing a beer with her, could result in a formal complaint being launched against her to the Cheshire East returning officer and possible disqualification from standing in Thursday's local elections.

In an e-mail to Mrs Tempest barrister Marc Asquith warned: "You should be aware that under electoral law, it is not permitted to use such a photograph without the permission of the person in the photograph. We have confirmed with Mr Osborne that you do not have such permission.

"You are therefore required to cease distributing leaflets carrying the photograph of Mr Osborne immediately.

"We intend to notify the returning officer of this matter and should you continue to distribute these leaflets we will raise a formal complaint and seek your disqualification as a candidate."

Mrs Tempest who has been involved in town life with a number of local organisations said her aim in standing in the first place was to take politics out of town life.

She added: "I have volunteered with a number of town organisations and it was during the launch of a new beer by Tatton Brewery to mark last year's 150th Knutsford Royal May Day, that I met Mr Osborne.

"I've always found Mr Osborne to be a good ambassador for the town and was delighted that he turned up to support this event, which was widely publicised across Knutsford.

"However, receiving such an intimidatory email threatening to get me disqualified as a candidate really upset me and also annoyed me as I knew the content of the email was complete bunkum. Dealing with this has wasted so much of my time.

"The Tatton Conservative Association could easily have contacted me direct rather than really going for it and instructing a barrister to warn me off."

Within hours of the Guardian contacting the Chancellor's election agent Hayley Wells-Bradshaw to ask for a comment, Mrs Tempest received a further e-mail from Mr Asquith stating: "Thank you for your email, which, I must admit, prompted further research on my part. It transpires that you are entirely correct and that those who instructed me were mistaken. I apologise for the error and any inconvenience caused."

The was no further comment from Mr Osborne's office.