Tories and UKIP clash over roadside adverts in south Northamptonshire

Members of UKIP attached a number of adverts for their party to posts alongside the A5 and A508 ahead of the local elections on May 2.

The move angered Conservative politicians, who argued the posters were all unauthorised and should not have been put up.

The row reached a head over the weekend when 11 of the UKIP billboards went missing.

UKIP candidate, Barry Mahoney, said their disappearance represented a “nasty twist” in the election campaign.

He said: “I don’t know who did this, but it’s obviously deliberate. It’s unpleasant when this behaviour enters elections.”

A Conservative insider from the county, who asked not to be named, revealed a party activist had “taken great offence at the unauthorised signs and performed his citizen’s duties by removing them, because they were causing an offence on the public highway”.

He added: “This is really something to be concerned with after the election, but my worry is that if they’re allowed to get away with this now, what’s it going to be like next year when the European elections are held, or the year after that when there’s a General Election.”