A CONSERVATIVE councillor breached the county council's code of conduct when he insulted a Labour candidate on Twitter, it has been found.

Liam Walker, who has represented Hanborough and Minster Lovell since 2017, called Perran Moon a 'b*llend' during a bad tempered exchange last month.

Mr Moon, who has since been elected as a Labour district councillor for Banbury Grimsbury and Hightown, claimed the slur had damaged his ‘professional and personal reputation’.

The county council said Mr Walker had since apologised and that meant no further investigation would be required.

A council spokesman said: "The council’s monitoring officer Nick Graham has considered the complaint made by Mr Moon about Liam Walker.

"The council’s policy for councillor complaints envisages that, if possible, an informal resolution should be achieved. This has been done."

Mr Walker is an active user of Twitter and is followed by nearly 7,400 people.

"The monitoring officer’s finding is that a breach of the code of conduct had occurred but was satisfied that Councillor Walker had issued a genuine apology for the tweet and had been reminded of his responsibilities to comply with the code.

"As such, no further investigation or action is necessary and the matter has been closed."