Politicians may be used to fierce clashes in the House of Commons but Crawley MP Henry Smith met his match when he took on a 64-year-old councillor in an inflatable gladiator battle.

The charity contest, which was uploaded to YouTube by blog crawleyhappytimes.co.uk, shows Mr Smith - who recently stepped down as leader of West Sussex County Council - struggling to maintain his balance as he is pummelled with a cushioned paddle by Crawley Councillor Bob Burgess.

The 40-something MP, watched by dozens of onlookers, is knocked off his perch three times by Coun Burgess before throwing in the towel.

The event, which took place last month at Southwell Lodge in Crawley, one of two hostels run by homeless charity Crawley Open House, was organised to thank supporters for their fundraising efforts over the past year. More than £13,000 has been raised since outgoing Crawley Mayor Brenda Burgess - Bob's wife - named Open House as her annual charity.

Mr Smith, asked yesterday about his thrashing, said: “I probably need to get one of these games for the back garden because I could do with some more practice. It was good fun and helped highlight a really important charity that often isn't very popular because of what it does.”

Victor Coun Burgess, who reaches just over 6ft and weighs in at about 15 stone, said: “It was a bit of a mismatch in terms of height and weight and reach. Henry is not the biggest person in the world.”

Peter Mansfield-Clark, director of Crawley Open House, joked: “I hope [Mr Smith] performs better as an MP than he ever did in the gladiator game.”

Crawley Open House is holding a fundraising dinner on June 25. Anyone wanting to attend, for £25 a ticket, can call 01293 447703.