A FORMER Pendle councillor, who controversially switched sides from the Liberal Democrats to become a Conservative MEP, is in the running to remain in Brussels next year.

Ex-lawyer Sajjad Karim is the Tories' third-choice candidate for the 2009 European elections following postal ballots of party members, behind current Euro MPS Sir Robert Atkins and Den Dover.

And if the party was to maintain its 2005 standing, Mr Karim, who ran an office in Manchester Road, Nelson, until his shock November 2007 defection, should keep his parliamentary seat.

Before the ballot fellow Tory MEP David Sumberg, a former Bury South MP and Manchester city councillor, announced he would not be standing in 2009, opening the door for a third-placed candidate to secure his spot.

Mr Karim, 37, who switched his Nelson office to Chorlton, in South Manchester, after rejecting the Lib Dems, narrowly defeated rivals Jacqueline Foster and Warrington lawyer Fiona Bruce for the third placing to become a North West MEP.

Party members were asked to nominate their first and second choices for the rankings - the initial choice being allocated one point, the reserve selection two points.

In November, the former Pendle councillor defected from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives claiming that the latter had made huge progress' under leader David Cameron.

Mr Karim was first elected to Pendle Council in 1994 and held a number of posts at Nelson Town Hall during his eight-year tenure.