IT'S PAISLEY VERSUS PORTILLO!

Former Carlisle Mayor Battles it out at the Polls in Posh Kensington

FORMER Carlisle mayor Colin Paisley today shares the political limelight
with the man tipped as a future Tory Party leader.

During the early hours of tomorrow, the veteran drugs campaigner and former
heroin addict will join Conservative Party candidate Michael Portico and
other would-be MP's to hear the result of the Kensington and Chelsea
by-election.

Mr Paisley, 62, has been selected as the official candidate for the Legalise
Cannabis Alliance.

He has used his election campaign to air his views on drug reform - and to
spell out his opposition to what he called the "victimisation" of people who
use cannabis to relieve the symptoms of disease.

His own election campaign secretary, multiple sclerosis sufferer Lezley
Gibson, heard earlier this week that she is due to be prosecuted for alleges
possession of the drug following a police raid on her home.

Mr Paisley said: "My main aim is to save my deposit, though i would be
delighted to get anything over 1,000 votes."

"If that happens, there would be a clear message for the Government, which
has been determined to refuse any meaningful debate on the drugs issue.

"It's been said that the number of people jailed for possessing cannabis
probably equals about four and a half prison-fulls of people.

"I want to highlight that injustice and hopefully help to get the law
changed."

Mr Paisley, from Barrock Street, Carlisle, who quit the Labour Party earlier
this year and currently does voluntary part-time work in a Carlisle charity
shop, said he believes his cause has widespread support from across the
political divide.

The former city councillor for St Aidan's is now a member of the Liberal
Party - quite separate from the Liberal Democrats.

The by-election was called after the death of colourful Tory MP Alan Clarke.

Former heroin addict Mr Paisley lived in the constituency in the Sixties and
Seventies, when he was addicted to heroin.

Mr Paisley was given permission to stand for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance
by the Liberal Party because it has not fielded a candidate in the
by-election.

It is the third election that he has contested this year.