Former Tory councillor and Tiger Patel pictured with Liz Truss

Imtiaz Ali was pictured with the Prime Ministerial candidate at a hustings in Manchester.

He is also featured alongside Liz Truss in photos posted on her official Twitter page. Mr Ali went on to share an image of himself with Liz Truss on his own Facebook page.

Also pictured at the event was present Conservative councillor Tiger Patel who attended separately.

Alongside the image Mr Ali said on his fb page: “Supporting Liz Truss for my leader and the next Prime Minister.”

Mr Ali joined the party in 2010 and was Tory councillor for Beardwood with Lammack from 2014 to 2018, but then later quit the Tories in May 2019 saying there was "infighting within the association" and "a lack of representation from within the Asian community".

He fought the Billinge and Beardwood ward at local elections as an Independent, but in October of the same year he re-joined the party and was selected as a candidate for the same ward.

Fantastic to be in Manchester for @Conservatives Hustings this evening.

Thank you to the thousands of members supporting my vision for our country and the economy. With your support we will unleash opportunity right across our United Kingdom.#LizForLeader #ReadyToLead pic.twitter.com/BlVUlahcDe

— Liz for Leader (@trussliz) August 19, 2022

Audley and Queens Park Councillor Tiger Patel also joined the campaign and said he was endorsing Liz Truss.

The race to become the next Prime Minister was triggered by Boris Johnson's resignation as party leader on July 7. The results for the vote are expected by September 5.

Conservative Friends and colleagues, vote for @trussliz as the next leader of the @Conservatives Party, and our next Prime Minister 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/ArjxaAof4G

— Cllr Tiger Patel (@CllrTigerPatel) August 20, 2022

It was the first sighting of Mr Ali for some time, as the former Councillor has been keeping a low profile for the past 12 months.

Liz Truss has been the frontrunner in the election to become the next Tory leader, proving more popular than her opponent Rishi Sunak among party members.

She also has the support of every East Lancashire Conservative MP who has publicly stated who they are backing, with Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen), Sara Britcliffe (Hyndburn), and Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) supporting the current Foreign Secretary.

Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) and Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) have not revealed their preferred candidate due to their roles alongside being constituency MPs; Mr Evans is a Deputy Speaker in the House of Commons and Mr Stephenson is the co-chair of the Tory Party.