Almost as soon as he'd filed the paperwork to run in the upcoming election, and after quitting his day job as a radio host, Iain Dale had left the race. His old comments from a podcast about living in Tunbridge Wells did not go over well. “I have lived in Tunbridge Wells since 1997, slightly against my will. I’ve never liked the place. Still don’t, and would happily live somewhere else.” Dale admitted that he'd only lived there because his partner was from there and he'd never liked the place. Yeah, it's problematic that.

Source: BBC

Broadcaster Iain Dale has dropped a bid to become the new MP for Tunbridge Wells after previous comments he made about the Kent town emerged.

Mr Dale launched his campaign four days ago to become the Conservative candidate to replace outgoing MP Greg Clark.

But after quitting his LBC radio show to stand, a clip from a podcast emerged in which he said he "never liked" Tunbridge Wells and "I'd quite happily live somewhere else".

Mr Dale, 61, who has lived in the town for 27 years, announced he was withdrawing on Friday, saying: "I instantly recognised the problems with that."

He said the two-year-old comments would be used by political opponents if he were to continue and he "wasn't willing to suffer death by a thousand cuts".

Speaking to LBC, he said: "There is a context to (the comments) but nobody's interested in context or nuance in these situations.