A TORY candidate who admitted drink-driving was given the guarded support of the party's National Assembly leadership yesterday.

The Argus revealed exclusively last week how Laura Anne Jones, (pictured) 23, of Llanbadoc, near Usk, is standing against former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies in Caerphilly in May's Assembly elections despite being given a year-long driving ban.

Abergavenny magistrates were told how she was stopped by police on Caerleon Road near Usk at 1.30am on December 22 last year.

She was arrested after failing a roadside breath test and a further test at the police station showed 47 mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Sophie Toms, defending, blamed the "cumulative effect" of drinks taken during the day which began with a glass of sherry at Jones' grandmother's house in the early afternoon. Jones was banned from drinving for a year and fined £75.

Magistrates said the ban would be cut by three months if she completed an alcohol rehabilitation course.

Jones was one of a number of candidiates who had met Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith at an event in Usk just a week before.

Conservative central office said then that her conviction was "a private matter" and that she would still be standing.

Yesterday, Welsh Tory chief Nick Bourne said he had talked to Mr Duncan Smith about the conviction and they agreed she should be allowed to stand with the support of her local party.

Mr Bourne told reporters: "It is a matter for the constituency party who it selects as candidate and it knew about this charge at an early date.

"It is a serious issue but it does not debar her from standing. She has given an apology and is paying the penalty, we have to move on now. I spoke to Iain Duncan Smith about this on Friday and we both regard it as a serious issue, but not terminal."

Jones is the youngest Tory candidate. Mr Bourne said the Tory leader did not know of the charge when he met her, but had been informed later.