A would-be Tory MP has survived an attempt by local activists to drop her as a general election candidate because of a row about an extra-marital affair.
Elizabeth Truss secured the strong backing of the constituency party in South West Norfolk at an emergency meeting on Monday night to decide her future.
The vote was called amid complaints that members were not told about the affair with Tory MP Mark Field before they selected her last month.
Her survival will be a relief for the national party as Ms Truss is on leader David Cameron's "A-List" of preferred candidates aimed at boosting the number of women MPs.
He had personally intervened to call for her backing amid wider tensions over alleged interference by Conservative Central Office.
Ms Truss said she was "delighted" to have retained her candidacy and said she hoped to be able to work with all members of the local party, including those who voted against her. And she dismissed as "flim flam" the concerns over her private life.
"It has been at times challenging. At times very interesting. Of course there is an element of hurt," she said in interviews after the vote. "What the people here really want is somebody who is going to live locally and address the issues. That is what I am going to do and they are not interested in the kind of flim flam there has been in the press."
Asked if there was a schism to heal in the local party, she said: "I want to work with everybody in the local party. All the people who supported me and those who didn't."
A Central Office spokesman welcomed the vote, reported by the ConservativeHome website to have been by a margin of 132 to 37.
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But some members remained unhappy at the way the affair had been handled. One prominent local Conservative, Sir Jeremy Bagge, said: "I am not proud to be a Conservative just at this moment. Conservative Central Office has deceived and betrayed us. They are strong words but that is how I feel."
