Jonathon Seed letter explains why he didn't think he was disqualified from PCC race

In the letter, which is dated May 9, 2021, Coun Seed says he was fined and banned from the roads for 18 months in 1993 after being convicted of drink driving.

However, as he had not been sentenced to prison “nor under the sentencing authorities could I have been” did not believe the conviction to have been for an imprisonable offence that would have automatically disqualified him from becoming police and crime commissioner.

The Wiltshire councillor claimed he had been open “at all times” with the Conservative Party. He declared the conviction in party applications in 2011 and 2018.

READ MORE: What happens next - after Jonathon Seed pulls out of police commissioner election

The letter to Terence Herbert, the police area returning officer, appears to suggest that Coun Seed had been told by party officials up until the evening of Thursday’s election that his conviction did not disqualify him from the PCC election.

He wrote: “I sought and received assurance from the Conservative Party that I was not disqualified by reason of this conviction. At all times up until the evening of 6 May the advice given to me by party officials was that I was not.”

Coun Seed said he had “now taken specialist legal advice” and found the advice given to him by the Conservative Party was wrong. It is not set out when this specialist legal advice was taken.

In a separate press statement, Coun Seed said: “As may be expected in matter like this, relating to a public election, I am informed that the police have now opened an investigation. I welcome this, and will, of course fully cooperate.”

Last night, a Conservative Party spokesman issued a simple 23 word statement. It read: "Due to a historic driving offence that has come to light, the candidate has been disbarred from becoming the Police and Crime Commissioner."

Jonathon Seed’s letter to Terence Herbert in full

Dear Terence, 

Notwithstanding that the vote for the election for the post of Police and Crime Commissioner took place on Thursday 6 May 2021, and that the count is to take place this Monday, 10 May 2021, I wish to withdraw my candidacy. 

The brief circumstances in which I wish to withdraw are as follows. 

In 1993 I was convicted of an offence of driving with excess alcohol. I was fined and disqualified from driving for a period of 18 months. I was neither sentenced to a term of imprisonment, nor, under the sentencing authorities could I have been. I therefore did not regard this an ‘imprisonable offence’. 

I have at all times been open with the Conservative Party about this conviction. In particular, I declared the conviction in my “Application for Consideration as an Approved Conservative Candidate”,  which I completed in 2011, and did so again recently in my “Application for Consideration as an Approved Conservative Candidate for the 2020 Police and Crime Commissioner Elections” which I completed in 2018. 

I sought and received assurance from the Conservative Party that I was not disqualified by reason of this conviction. At all times up until the evening of 6 May the advice given to me by party officials was that I was not.

I now have taken specialist legal advice and have been told that as a matter of law the party advice that I received was wrong, and that I am disqualified from holding the post of Police and Crime Commissioner (owing to the operation section 66 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011). 

I am obviously bitterly disappointed to have received this recent advice. My conviction for driving with excess alcohol is now nearly 30 years old and has long since been spent. I have never been convicted of any subsequent offence. I have worked hard and conscientiously in local and national politics, and on behalf of the local community. Notwithstanding, I am bound to accept the advice I have been given. 

In these circumstances it is right that I should inform you immediately of the position, so that you can take whatever steps you now think are appropriate.