�Controversial Tory stalwart Alby Tebbutt has been booted out of Romford Conservative Association – just months after being readmitted to the party at the end of a two-year suspension for alleged bad behaviour.

His latest expulsion follows a bitter battle for supremacy within the association that last month saw his leadership bid defeated by a younger rival.

Victor and current chairman Cllr Osman Dervish told the Recorder he had written to expel Mr Tebbutt, a prominent Romford businessman, at the end of last week.

“There is no personal animosity,” he said, “but the way this man [Mr Tebbutt] works is not conducive to Tories in Romford.” Cllr Dervish added: “It’s regrettable, but it’s time to put previous battles in the past and look forward. [Mr Tebbutt’s expulsion] will help us to do that.”

But Mr Tebbutt, 72, has vowed to lead a fight against the decision – and the leadership in general.

“If they want a war, they’ve got a war, and there are plenty of people willing to join an army against them,” he said. “This is not democratic – the association has turned into a dictatorship and I am being victimised.”

His membership was one of the first considerations of the new association executive, which is headed by a trio of twentysomethings and backed by Romford MP Andrew Rosindell.

Mr Tebbutt was kicked out of the party in December 2010 after a series of faux pas culminated in a conviction for common assault, which was later quashed.

According to Cllr Dervish, Mr Tebbutt’s membership had been incorrectly signed off by former chairman David Thorpe, with approval of officers, when his ban ended in December. The renewal should have been agreed by the association’s full executive – a larger group of Western Road-based members – Cllr Dervish said.

Mr Tebbutt cannot now reapply to the association, Cllr Dervish said, unless a special executive motion is moved. But Mr Tebbutt has vowed to write to top Tory MPs and said: “I should never have been suspended in the first place – my conviction was overturned.”