This man changed his name to Michael Green to challenge Tory chairman Grant Shapps for Welwyn Hatfield
Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps is facing an unusual challenge in the seat of Welwyn Hatfield.
Shapps will almost certainly retain the seat where he holds a 17,000 majority, but one of his rivals will bring up memories of one of his more embarrassing moments.
Welwyn Council has confirmed that one of the opponents facing Shapps has officially changed their name by deed to Michael Green.
Shapps used the name Michael Green as a pseudonym to hold a second job for more than a year after becoming an MP in 2005, but had previously told LBC that he had never had a second job while being an MP.
In March, the Tory chairman admitted to the BBC that he "screwed up" over the dates when he gave up his second job.
The editor of Political Scrapbook Laurence Durnan is acting as the new Michael Green's election agent and revealed that Green has managed to notch up 15 signatures of support in Hatfield yesterday.
Stood in Hatfield town centre (like a plonker) getting last minute signatures. Michael Green vs Shapps is ON! pic.twitter.com/lltFfS31BX
— Laurence Durnan (@PSbookEditor) April 9, 2015
The candidate's identity has not been formally revealed but is reported to have "name recognition".
The mystery candidate's light-hearted campaign website says:
Tory chairman Grant Shapps has been pretending to be 'Michael Green'. Well, my name really is Michael Green. And I'm pretty pissed off.
So I've decided to embarrass him by standing against him in his own constituency. That's right: his secret pseudonym will be joining him on the ballot paper.