PARTY leaders have questioned whether a political assistant caught up in the Madeleine McCann costume row will be able to fulfil her duties.

Felicity Cox, an employee of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, has been temporarily excluded from the Conservative Party as an investigation takes place into a fellow party member’s decision to dress up as the missing five-year-old.

It has been alleged that Ms Cox, also known as Flick, engaged in an online conversation with activist Matt Lewis, who has been expelled from the party over his choice of costume for a fancy dress event on New Year’s Eve.

In yesterday’s Sentinel, the chairman of Newcastle Conservative Association, Owen Meredith, confirmed the temporary exclusion and said Ms Cox was not working for the party, officially or otherwise.

But it is not known how long the investigation by the party’s central office will take.

And that has left leaders of other city council political groups asking if she will be able to fully carry out her responsibilities as a political assistant to the Conservative and Independent Alliance group, for which she is believed to get paid £25,000 a year.

The role, which is funded by the city council, involves party members supporting councillors and portfolio holders in pulling together policy. But the position is not purely party political and is covered by the same guidelines affecting other council officers.

A city council spokesman said the authority does not comment on staffing matters, but it is believed the council sees the issue as a personal matter that does not affect Ms Cox’s job.

Councillor Roger Ibbs, leader of the Conservative and Independent Alliance group, said: “I have complete confidence in Flick’s ability to do her job in her usual professional manner.”

But BNP leader councillor Alby Walker said: “I think this is an embarrassment for the Conservative Party and also for the city council.”

Labour group leader councillor Joy Garner said: “It is alleged unless she is proven guilty, but it is very sad if it is true because she has very promising career prospects.”

Potteries Alliance leader councillor Peter Kent-Baguley said: “If she has been excluded it would make her role extremely difficult to carry out and would raise a question of the appropriateness of continuing to pay public money to an officer of the council who is not fully able to carry out the duties attached to that post.”

Councillor Ann James, leader of the City Independents, said she was not in a position to comment, while the Liberal Democrat group leader councillor Jean Bowers said she was reluctant to be drawn into the politics of the matter.

But she added: “She is a bright young woman with great aspirations.”

Former Staffordshire Conservative Future chairman Mr Lewis apologised for his actions after party chairman Caroline Spelman termed them “completely unacceptable”.

He had used his internet Facebook page to state that his fancy dress costume would include a blonde wig, pink pyjamas, a teddy bear and a “vial of fake blood”.

In an online conversation, Mr Lewis allegedly told Ms Cox: “There was a brief moment when I thought I might have gone too far with elements of the costume, but it was OK.”

She is said to have replied he may have “pulled a Prince Harry”, a reference to the royal’s decision to wear a Nazi outfit at a fancy dress party in 2005.

Do you think Felicity Cox should be allowed to continue as a political assistant?