A councillor who lost his bid to be the next Lord Mayor of Bradford has claimed he is the victim of racial discrimination.

But Councillor Arshad Hussain’s accusation that he was discriminated against has been furiously denied by the Tory group.

Coun Hussain, 40, was hoping to become the first Conservative Asian councillor to hold the position.

He became the Conservative group’s first Asian councillor when he was first elected to the Toller ward in 1995, and was one of three Conservatives who threw their hats into the ring for selection as the Lord Mayor at a group meeting of the party last week.

But Coun Hussain, who believed he was favourite as he was the longest- serving of the candidates by a decade, lost the secret ballot to Worth Valley councillor Peter Hill.

He also lost out on a subsequent bid to become Deputy Lord Mayor to Councillor Mohammed Jamil, who will become the Conservatives’ first Asian to take on a civic role in the district.

Coun Hussain said he had always understood the Lord Mayoralty was a reward handed to long-serving councillors.

He said he had thought of switching political allegiance, but that he had grown up with the Conservatives as his father, Ajaid Hussain, was the first Asian candidate in Bradford for the Tories in the 1980s.

He said: “I have been with the party for a long time but when my father found out about this he asked me to cancel his membership of the Conservative Party.

“I believe I have been discriminated against and that it was done racially. How else could a councillor of just five years be voted through over one with 14 years’ experience?”

Tory group leader Councillor Kris Hopkins described Coun Hussain’s claims of discrimination as “false and grossly offensive”.

Coun Hopkins said: “I totally refute any suggestion that the choices of new Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, both by way of secret ballot, were made on any basis other than the merits of the individual candidates. “While I understand Coun Hussain’s disappointment at his failure to be elected to either position, I will simply not stand by and allow him to smear the reputations of Conservative group members by alleging racial discrimination.

“I have invited him to discuss the matter with me personally.”

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, the Conservative group’s chief whip said: “It is regrettable that Arshad feels the way he does. The fact is the next Lord Mayor was chosen by a secret ballot and members made their own decisions on who to select and why.

“The elections to the positions of both Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor require the successful candidate to achieve more than 50 per cent of the respective votes in order to win.

“Peter Hill and Mohammed Jamil reached this threshold in their individual elections at the first ballot.”