A Brighton politician has hit back at the suggestion he shed his double-barrelled surname to sound less like “a toff”.

Simon Kirby, or Radford-Kirby, yesterday responded to an article in The Mail on Sunday which named him as one of several Conservative parliamentary candidates allegedly ordered to split their name by party leader David Cameron.

In a blog, Mr Kirby said his double-barrelled name was the result of his marriage 17 years ago and not a “posh” background.

The politician, who will stand in the Brighton Kemptown constituency, said he was raised in a Hastings council house and went to local state schools.

He said he had used the name Kirby when first elected to represent Kemptown on East Sussex County Council in 1992 and kept it.

He said it fitted on to posters better.