Iain Dale slams people who ‘revelled in my disappointment and self-humiliation’ after pulling out of race to be Tory MP for Tunbridge Wells after he admitted he ‘never liked’ the town on a podcast

Iain Dale has accused critics of ‘delighting in my disappointment and self-abasement’ after withdrawing from the race to become the new MP for Tunbridge Wells, amid a backlash over previous comments he made about the city of Kent.

Mr Dale dropped his bid to become the city’s Conservative candidate at the upcoming general election, less than three days after announcing he was leaving the LBC radio station.

Following his pitch to voters on his show on Tuesday, the Lib Dems reported earlier comments from Mr Dale on a podcast in which he admitted he ‘never liked’ the city of Kent to the local Conservative association.

Speaking during the 2022 episode of his podcast For The Many, Mr Dale said: “I have lived in Tunbridge Wells since 1997, somewhat against my will. I never liked the place. Still haven’t, and would like to live somewhere else.’

After being forced to withdraw, Mr Dale today tweeted: ‘Huge thanks to the hundreds of you who have been in touch over the last few days. As you can imagine, it’s been a brutal 48 hours or so and there were some very dark moments. But I’m through it now and your words of encouragement have helped immensely.

Iain Dale has accused critics of ‘delighting in my disappointment and self-humiliation’

In a lengthy post on X/Twitter, he thanked his supporters who helped him through a ‘brutal 48 hours’

‘Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. And for those who enjoyed my disappointment and self-humiliation, I suggest that your words say a lot more about you than they do about me.

‘I’m going to take a few days now to think about what the future will bring, but I won’t be around much. I hope you all have a great weekend. Ian x.”

The radio presenter had parted ways with LBC after fourteen years when he announced his plan on Tuesday evening, but withdrew from the candidate selection process just days later.

Announcing his decision to his long-term colleague Nick Ferrari on LBC on Friday, Mr Dale said: ‘I immediately recognized the problems with that.

“There’s a context to it, but no one is interested in context or nuance in these situations. You just have that little clip and that would be on every Lib Dem leaflet distributed during the election campaign.”

He added that he was “unwilling to suffer death by a thousand cuts” and risk more commentary before nominations close next week.

“I think I have recognized the political reality and I don’t want to do anything that would harm the elected party,” he said.

On his comments about Tunbridge Wells, the broadcaster and author said part of the reason he became angry with the podcast was due to roadworks that had been going on for three months.

Iain Dale announced his decision to his regular colleague Nick Ferrari on LBC on Friday

‘If I hated it so much, would I have lived there for 27 years? “I don’t think I would do that,” he said.

‘Anyone listening to this now will have a complaint about where he or she lives. I just formulated it far too graphically.’

On Tuesday, Mr Dale told LBC listeners there were ‘no guarantees’ he would be selected ‘let alone elected’ as a candidate, but ‘I know I’d be fooling myself forever if I didn’t put it on would at least try’. the July 4 elections.

On what the future holds as he resigned on Friday, Mr Dale told Ferrari he would think about taking time to make important decisions.

He added: ‘I made the mistake of making a decision without probably thinking of all the possible consequences, so it would be a bit stupid to do the same thing again.’