INDEPENDENT candidate for Tamworth Peter Draper has revealed a failed bid to convince senior local National Party figures to challenge incumbent Kevin Anderson for preselection.
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Mr Draper, who represented Tamworth in state parliament from 2003 to 2011, said he was prepared to withdraw his candidacy for next March’s election if Mr Anderson was successfully challenged for preselection by his own party.
The deal fell over and Mr Draper this week announced he would make a run for the seat.
“I spoke to a senior member of the local Nationals branch and tried to convince him to challenge Kevin for preselection,” Mr Draper said.
“If he had run and won preselection, I would not have run.
“Kevin might be a nice bloke but he’s completely out of his depth in politics.”
The Leader approached several local National Party branch figures but all denied they had been approached by Mr Draper.