A former chairman of the Keighley and Ilkley Liberal Democrats group has resigned and fired off a public attack on party leader Nick Clegg.

Roger Beaumont, who stood unsuccessfully for the Lib Dems in the Keighley constituency at last year’s General Election, said an interview with Mr Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, featuring university tuition fees left him “enraged”.

And Mr Beaumont, who apparently posted his views on the group’s website, which he ran, said he had ‘fallen out of love’ with Mr Clegg and other ‘economic Liberals’ over the party’s change in stance on tuition fees, forcing him to resign.

The 800-word ‘rant’ was quickly taken off the Liberal Democrat website, but not before it had been seen by members of other political parties and sent to the Telegraph & Argus.

In it Mr Beaumont argued against the Lib Dems’ policy on tuition fees, income tax and National Insurance and suggested the party had lost its principles. He also compared Mr Clegg unfav-ourably with the carol about Good King Wenceslas.

“With Christmas so recently past, we should remember the words of the carol, Good King Wenceslas,” Mr Beaumont said. “He went out to help someone more in need than he was. That’s what I thought the Liberal Democrats were about. Nick Clegg seems to have a different inspiration.”

Last night, Mr Beaumont confirmed he had written the letter on the website and left the Lib Dems and quit local politics all together.

Neil Fraser, a candidate for the Labour party in Ilkley in May’s local elections, who sent Mr Beaumont’s parting message to the T&A, said: “It’s an astonishing rant and shows the depth of betrayal many people who voted Liberal Democrat in good faith are now feeling.”