The controversial former leader of Salisbury City Council is hoping to get elected as an independent Wiltshire councillor in Westbury West.

Matthew Dean resigned from the Salisbury role in 2018, and left the Conservative Party, amid reports he was being threatened with legal action to recover nearly £25,000 of allegedly unpaid rent on the pub he ran in the city.

He says the matter has now been resolved, adding that leading the City's Tory group for five years had been "incredibly time consuming."

He has now reinvented himself as an independent, gunning for a cabinet seat on issues ranging from improving pot holes, objecting to the proposed incinerator, and cleaning the Westbury White Horse.

“I lead the council for a very difficult time for the city with Novichok. And just thought it was time to move on and let someone else take the reins."

He also got into hot water after allegedly sending a text suggesting travellers had stolen the bench on which Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found poisoned. Wiltshire Council leader at the time Jane Scott confirmed to the Salisbury Journal she had received the text from Dean's mobile number.

He scotched other rumours in 2016 that he insulted colleagues, swore and loudly discussed sensitive council business in on a train home from London.

He denied behaving inappropriately when he subjected fellow passengers to “a loud, foul-mouthed, public display of indiscretion”, according to witnesses.

Prior to moving into Salisbury politics, he was a leading Tory on Southampton City Council. Pub debts affected him there too.

Drinkers watched on when British Gas officials walked into The Rover and said they were shutting off the power because of unpaid bills.

Dean was then Southampton’s cabinet member for environment and transport.

He believes there was an administrative mix-up with British Gas following the death of the previous landlord, but insisted the debt was not his fault.

Councillor Dean, who is already on Westbury Town Council as there were fewer candidates than seats in an uncontested election, lives above the Angel Hotel in Westbury and also manages The Rising Sun in Bradford on Avon.

"I want to put Westbury on the map. It's the forgotten town of Wiltshire," he added.

In Westbury West, four candidates are standing: Daniel Butler (C), David Cavill (Lib Dem), Matthew Dean (Ind), and Jane Russ (Lab).