Tories criticised for saying Lib Dem candidate pretending to be blind

It has been an election campaign marked by controversial claims and counter-claims, but a row in the parliamentary constituency of Torbay in Devon has perhaps topped the lot.

A local charity for visually impaired people, Devon in Sight, has accused Tory canvassers of “stooping to an all-time low” by allegedly suggesting that the local Liberal Democrat candidate, Steve Darling, is not actually blind.

The comments were said to have been made by a Tory doorknocker calling at the house of an unnamed elderly couple in recent days.

According to a press release issued by the charity, a canvasser in the Livermead area suggested that Darling, who has a guide dog called Jennie, was “faking his sight loss” and “using his guide dog for ‘political purposes’”.

Grahame Flynn, Devon in Sight’s chief executive, who employs Darling’s wife, who is also blind, said: “With Steve Darling’s consent, I would like to confirm that he has been living with a rare genetic eye disease that started in childhood.

“He was formally registered blind in his teens with a deteriorating eye condition that may well end in total sight loss. Furthermore, Steve is registered with the council as severely sight impaired (blind). He first registered with our charity in 1986.

“Steve was on the waiting list for a guide dog for almost three years before being matched with Jennie, his current guide dog. To politicise someone’s disability is highly unsavoury and Steve and everyone living with little or no sight in Devon deserves better.”

When asked to respond to the claims, the Conservative candidate Kevin Foster wrote on X: “Am out with my team regularly and never heard this type of line used. Odd the charity has not been in touch at all about this alleged incident, even to confirm if someone is actually a representative of my campaign.”

Foster faces a tough fight to hold on to the seat, which he won with a majority of 17,749 at the last election. The Liberal Democrats held Torbay until 2015.

Darling, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said he was hopeful for the election and he hoped the row over his blindness would not be a “distraction”, although he said his wife had been particularly hurt by the alleged comments.

“It is sometimes the case that it is the political spouse that feels things more strongly than the candidate,” he said. “My issue is that it seems to pose the question, ‘How can he possibly be registered blind and be capable of doing something like this?’”

The Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, Daisy Cooper, called for an investigation. She said: “This appears to be a disgraceful and desperate slur from the Conservative campaign in Torbay. It is insulting to everyone living with a visual impairment, and the voters of Torbay deserve so much better.

“Rishi Sunak must immediately condemn these remarks and suspend the Conservative candidate for Torbay while these reports are thoroughly investigated.”

The Conservative party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.