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A bungling Tory councillor's plans to "play dirty" against his political opponents was scuppered when he accidentally copied them in to an incriminating email.

Scott Harris, of Portsmouth Council, was forced to apologise after his scheme to smear former Lib Dem councillor Sameen Farouk was exposed.

Cllr Harris has told her Mr Farouk he "very much" regretted sending the strongly worded email meant for a number of fellow Conservative members.

The councillor was in disagreement with Mr Farouk over discussions about the America's Cup World Series sailing event, and suggested to fellow members that "smearing" him may be a "viable option".

Cllr Harris has now written a "full and frank" apology to the former Liberal Democrat member while opposition councillors have called for him to consider his position.

He told Mr Farouk: "I apologise for any distress or upset you may have suffered following the email that was sent to you by accident."

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In the original email to Tory members, he wrote: "The elections are coming and the politics are dirty. The tricks by the Lib Dems, the lies and the smear are disgusting.

"Quite frankly it might be a good idea to play dirty this time. I know we shouldn't go down to their gutter politics but should we continue to stand by and allow this to go on?"

He added: "I do not want to go down the road of finding ways to smear Sameen Farouk, but maybe we should look at this as a viable option."

Mr Farouk, who works at West Sussex County Council, told Cllr Harris was 'personally disappointed', adding: "That's not how you would behave to your own constituents."