Flight constituents under 'undue pressure'

LONDON, April 2 (UPI) -- British officials in the constituency of Tory MP Howard Flight have said party leaders subjected local activists to "undue pressure," the BBC reported Saturday.

Tory leader Michael Howard forced Flight to resign as deputy chairman of the party after remarks on spending cuts, and deselected him as an MP. Howard rejected Flight's appeal against deselection.

Harold Hall, a vice president of the local Conservative Association and a member of the West Sussex County Council, said its members had "spent much of the week trying to get a special general meeting called to hear directly from Flight of the events which led to the withdrawal of the party whip."