Hargreaves forced to pull out of election

THE controversial leader of the Scottish Christian Party has withdrawn from the next general election after revealing that his wife has cancer of the brain for the third time.

The Rev George Hargreaves – the songwriter behind a 1980s pop hit which became a gay anthem – was due to stand in the party's main target seat, the Western Isles.

His wife Maxine, 49 – also a Pentecostal minister – is due to stand against Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. But the Hargreaves – who have two grown-up sons, Nick, 32, and Marlon, 29, from previous relationships – received the news this week that Maxine has another brain tumour.

Mrs Hargreaves had previously recovered from brain surgery in 2007.

"Family comes before politics and I have decided to withdraw my candidacy," said Mr Hargreaves, 53. "My wife's cancer has not rocked my faith in God. She is not scared to die – we know there is an eternal place for us."

Mrs Hargreaves said she hoped to have surgery within the next couple of weeks, but has not ruled out standing herself at the next election.

Mr Hargreaves still earns an estimated 10,000 a month in royalties from the 1985 pop song So Macho sung by Dancing on Ice star Sinitta.

More than 20 years later, its proceeds were used to help to fund a legal appeal by nine officers from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue who were punished for refusing to attend a gay parade Pride Scotia in 2006.