WARREN BRADLEY last night spoke for the first time since his suspension by the Liberal Democrats last week, claiming he was a victim of “dirty politics”.

The former Liverpool Lib-Dem leader claimed colleague Gary Millar defected to Labour because he was shocked by the way Cllr Bradley was treated over the election fraud row.

Cllr Bradley said senior councillors and the national party “manipulated” the allegations.

“Gary saw what happened to me last week. It was manipulated by [Mike] Storey and [Richard] Kemp, as well as the national party,” said Cllr Bradley.

Cllr Kemp only recently criticised Cllr Bradley’s attack on the Lib-Dems’ role in the coalition – while it is well- known Cllr Bradley and his former mentor Lord Storey have not seen eye-to-eye for some time.

Last night, Lord Storey and Cllr Kemp denied any involvement in his suspension – while Cllr Millar refused to take sides in the row.

“I am not going to get involved in a slanging match,” he said. “But what I can observe is a lack of team work [in the Liverpool Lib-Dems].”

Cllr Bradley said he and Cllr Millar were in agreement about the way the coalition government had let down the country.

“I have been talking to Gary regularly about his feelings over the last few months and we both felt as strongly as each other about the coalition,” said Cllr Bradley.

“And we also felt the same way about people in the group.”

Cllr Bradley said he advised Millar against defecting, claiming the Labour Party was capable of similar dirty tricks.

He added: “He is a very honest guy. He’s exactly the kind of person I wanted in my cabinet.

“The dirty way politics works in this city has brought about Gary’s decision.

“Gary is too nice for politics. I am not sure how he will get on in the Labour group.”