A Conservative candidate who is pictured in the party’s manifesto as an NHS nurse standing for parliament is currently suspended from practising as a midwife, the Guardian can reveal.

Natalie Neale, who is taking on the shadow health secretary, Jon Ashworth, in Leicester South, was barred from practising as a registered midwife for 18 months in August under an interim order by the Nursing and Midwifery Council while it investigates an unspecified allegation against her.

Under the order, she must immediately inform any organisation employing her as nurse that she is subject to a condition of practice order.

Separately, Neale lost a claim for wrongful dismissal earlier this year after she walked out of her role as a clinical advisor for the private health provider Care UK in 2017, when it was running services for West Midlands ambulance service.

The tribunal judge in the case, Christopher Gaskell, dismissed her evidence as both “inconsistent” and “disingenuous” and found she “cynically failed to cooperate with the investigation” into a grievance she made about her duties.

A related claim for disability discrimination, relating to a back injury sustained by Neale during training for a black belt in Thai boxing, was dismissed as “misconceived and totally without merit”.

The disclosures raise questions over how Neale was selected to fight the Leicester South seat, and why she featured so prominently in the manifesto. A picture of her, wearing an NHS lanyard, appears on page 11 in a section outlining the party’s dubious claim it will deliver 50,000 more nurses. It later emerged that at least 19,000 nurses in this target will be made up by retaining existing staff.

Cllr Natalie Neale (@NatalieNeale2) Fab day canvassing. Thank you to Michael Gove for joining us in Dudley South. #Election2015 pic.twitter.com/caXTt1mFJF

The tribunal in Neale’s employment cases noted she was absent from work for 169 days after the boxing injury in July 2015. She told her employer she was “bed-bound” but was on holiday when her managers tried to contact her. She later explained it was a holiday with facilities for disabled people.

She also took a further 27 days off work after rupturing a hamstring in 2016. As she recovered she partially worked from home. Soon after returning to work she filed a grievance claiming her duties amounted to the more senior role of clinical quality improvement leader.

The tribunal heard that in May 2017 she emailed her manager to say she had walked out and would not be returning. She complained that she could not work in a “call-centre environment” because of her disability, despite being able to perform the role at home.

Judge Gaskell said it was “plain nonsense” for Neale to suggest that her treatment was related to her disability. He said Care UK had “good reason” to require her to work in its offices and had in place specialist equipment and reasonable adjustment to allow her to do this.

In a statement supplied by CCHQ, Neale said: “The Nursing and Midwifery Council declared I was not able to keep my status as a midwife due to a change of role which meant I was no longer practicing the hours required to maintain the status. I am currently a registered nurse working in urgent care and A&E.

“Separately following an injury which left me disabled, my role at work changed and the disability meant I was unable to continue.

“I felt the company I worked for failed to make reasonable adjustments for the disability. Unfortunately it wasn’t the outcome I was hoping for but I’m now recovered and back at work doing a job I love and helping provide care to people in need.”

Ashworth won the seat in 2017 with 73.6% of the vote and a majority over the previous Conservative candidate of 26,261.