A long-serving councillor met Prime Minister David Cameron in London to celebrate 40 years of service to Bradford and the Conservative Party.

Councillor Valerie Binney, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2012, is retiring from her role as councillor for Thornton and Allerton ward this May.

She said: “It was an honour to meet the Prime Minster and to visit 10 Downing Street.”

Communicating via her specially-adapted iPad, Coun Binney told the PM of her campaigning in Bradford, and how she helped to raise funds to reinvigorate the local Tories in 1975.

In 1982, Coun Binney served as the organising secretary when Geoff Lawler became the MP for Bradford North and later became a qualified agent looking after the three Bradford seats for ten years. She was agent for Iain Duncan Smith when he stood in Bradford West.

Coun Binney, who was at the Tory conference in the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1984 when an IRA bomb went off, has also served as Lord Mayor of Bradford.

“It has been a pleasure to serve the people of Bradford and I have met and worked with so many tremendous people from every community,” said Coun Binney.

“I think we have much to celebrate and be proud of in Bradford. I was proud to tell David Cameron about our city.”