A FARMER who contested Tony Blair's old seat for the British National Party last month has severed all ties with the organisation after a punch-up with its treasurer, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Andrew Spence became the BNP's most successful candidate when he polled 2,494 votes in the Sedgefield by-election.

The result was hailed by the far right party as a breakthrough, but the jubilation has turned to recrimination following ugly scenes at the party's Red, White and Blue Family Festival, in Derbyshire, last weekend.

Last night, Mr Spence said he had thrown punches at party treasurer John Walker and head of publicity Mark Collett.

"There was a slight altercation because of a clash of personalities,"

said Mr Spence.

"The police were not involved, it was dealt with by the festival security."

He was allegedly escorted from the site by BNP security.

The Red, White and Blue festival was described on the BNP's website as "a roaring success".

The two-and-a-half day event was said to have attracted about 3,000 people from across the UK and as far afield as the US, Sweden, South Africa and Germany.

Mr Spence, who led the September 2000 fuel protests, said he had left the party because he no longer saw eye-to-eye with senior BNP officials.

He said: "It saddens me that I am no longer involved with them because I made some good friends. But the BNP are not the party I thought they were."

The father-of-three, from Leadgate, near Consett, County Durham, said he left the party two weeks ago after an unsuccessful attempt to succeed Mr Blair as Sedgefield MP.

He earned the congratulations of his party when he achieved the BNP's best by-election result in its 25-year history and finished in fourth place with 8.91 per cent of the vote.

He said he only attended the weekend festival because he still has friends within the party.

Mr Spence said that when he first joined the party, "the BNP had a commonsense approach to tackling the issues that matter to people".

Earlier this year, he stood for election to Derwentside District Council as the BNP candidate for the Leadgate ward, but was unsuccessful.

Now he has cut his ties and political allegiance with the group.

Mr Spence was previously a member of the UK Independence Party and stood as a parliamentary candidate in Sedgefield in the 2001 General Election.

The BNP's press officer, Dr Phil Edwards, would not comment about the punch-up or Mr Spence's resignation.

He said: "It is a private matter and it was nothing serious. I am not going to tell your disgusting newspaper anything."