Oldham Council leader Arooj Shah has accused the Oldham Conservatives of collaborating with a third party to hand out leaflets about her which she describes as "defamatory and malicious".

In an open letter, she claims that two Conservative candidates in the upcoming local elections were delivering the leaflets in March.

She said the leaflets had caused her "significant distress" and were "part of an ongoing campaign of harassment and hate".

She also said the party had failed to distance itself from the leaflets as she previously requested.

The letter was sent to the leader of the Conservatives Cllr Graham Sheldon, along with the chairman of the Oldham Conservative Federation Sajjad Hussain and Conservative candidate in Chadderton South Robert Barnes.

Cllr Shah originally sent a letter to the Conservatives asking for them to distance themselves from the letters which were distributed in her ward.

However, she now says the party failed to do that and instead shared the leaflets on their Facebook page, which incited "further hatred".

On Tuesday, March 22, the Oldham Conservative Party revealed on its Facebook page that Cllr Shah had emailed the group asking for them to distance themselves from the leaflet.

In the Facebook post, it said the leaflets were "clearly not" produced by the party as there were no "imprint, logo or contact details of any candidate(s)".

Cllr Dave Arnott of the Conservatives said: "The Oldham and Saddleworth Conservative Federation has been contacted by Cllr Shah regarding this issue. 

"The Chairman has replied, clearly stating that the leaflet has nothing to do with the Conservatives, and suggesting that she should raise her concerns with the author."

In the latest letter, Cllr Shah names Conservative candidates Gary Tarbuck, running in Royton South, and Lynne Kovacs, running in Waterhead, as the two who were handing out the leaflets.

She said: "It is deeply disappointing that Oldham Conservatives has allowed their party to be used in this manner."

She also pointed to the pledge members of Oldham's political groups unanimously signed in November 2021 to "put politics before personalities" by rising above "lies and misinformation" and personal attacks.

She said the pledge was meant to stand "against hate and division" and not to bring "it into the mainstream of political discourse".

When contacted, Cllr Sheldon said he had responded to Cllr Shah personally.

Mr Hussain and Cllr Arnott were both contacted for the story.

The author of the leaflets, Raja Miah, declined to comment.

Oldham will hold local elections on May 5 this year.