Brian Coleman expelled from Conservative Party for assault conviction

Disgraced councillor Brian Coleman has been permanently expelled from the Conservative Party after he was convicted of assaulting a woman last month.

The executive council of Chipping Barnet Conservative Association voted to expel Cllr Coleman, 51, from the association and from membership of the Tory party at a special meeting last night.

Since admitting an attack on cafe owner and mother-of-two Helen Michael at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court last month, Cllr Coleman had faced calls for his Conservative Party membership to be revoked.

The decision last night brings his 15-year tenure as a Conservative councillor for Barnet’s Totteridge ward to an end and means he will have to stand as an independent candidate if he wishes to contest next year’s local elections.

The former Barnet mayor, now serving Totteridge as an independent councillor, has also faced demands he resign as a Barnet councillor following his conviction.

It takes a prison sentence of three months or more for someone to be disqualified as a councillor – and Cllr Coleman received only a fine.