THE Green Party has been criticised for selecting a council candidate who claimed The Grand hotel bombing was justified.

Former Brighton and Hove councillor Richard Stanton, who described the horrific bombing as a “justifiable act of political warfare”, has been selected by the city’s Green Party to replace Ben Duncan.

The bomb, planted in 1984 by the IRA while Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet were staying at the hotel, killed five people and injured more.

Mr Stanton’s comments, made in the same year as the terrorist attack, were met with national condemnation from across the political spectrum – including from his then Labour Party colleagues.

But he has now been selected to stand as councillor in Queen’s Park ward at next year’s local elections in May – succeeding the Green’s Ben Duncan, who was this year removed from the Green Party for describing soldiers as “hired killers” on Armed Forces Day.

Melanie Davis, chairwoman of the Brighton and Hove Labour Group, has written to her Green Party counterpart Lisa Murray calling for her to “reflect before confirming his candidacy” in May’s elections.

A letter seen by The Argus reads: “I ask you to reflect on the sense of outrage Mr Stanton’s selection will cause to many people in Brighton and Hove, those who worked to rescue staff and politicians affected by the bomb and the emergency services who tirelessly sought to save lives.

“That he has been selected to succeed Ben Duncan in Queen’s Park ward, expelled from your party for his comments about the Armed Forces, adds insult to injury.”

Conservative Councillor Graham Cox, who was a serving Sussex Police officer at the time of the bombing, said Mr Stanton’s selection was “insensitive to say the least”.

He added: “To select someone to stand for the council here in Brighton who thinks the bombing was somehow justified, and appears to stand by those views, seems insensitive to say the least.”

But Green Councillor Geoffrey Bowden said it was “no surprise” Labour has sought to “make mischief” by “dredging up a story from decades ago”.

He added: “Richard Stanton was selected as a Green candidate for Queen’s Park by an overwhelming majority in a party-wide ballot.

“He has a very strong reputation as a conscientious, hard-working and effective councillor who raised a large amount of capital to improve thousands of council homes and who launched the original Friends of Queen’s Park.”