A candidate fighting Peter Mandelson under the banner of "Genuine Labour" has been told to change his ballot designation sparking claims of a conspiracy against the under-dog.

Ex Labour press officer, John Booth has been told by the local returning officer that he could not run under a banner of of either "Labour" and "genuine".

Booth has been accused of "sour grapes" by Mandelson who sacked him in the 1980s,

The row came just hours before nominations closed on Tuesday.

Booth was said to be furious claiming a conspiracy was being waged against him.

"This is an absolute outrage. It is a deliberate attempt to obstruct my candidature," he said.

He will now fight the campaign with no designation at all.

Booth says he was warned yesterday that he could not use the word "Labour" but "was told I could fight under the designation 'Genuine'".

After altering his election address and resubmitting his nominaton he was told that there had been a "mistake".

The one time colleague of Mandelson claimed he is the victim of a campaign to damage his chances.

He said he had been deliberately overlooked by TV and radio programmes covering the Hartlepool constituency.

Booth claims he was excluded from both the Today programme and BBC 2's Newsnight and has written to the corporation's director general Greg Dyke in protest.

Saying Dyke was a friend of Mandelson, Booth told epolitix.com that he "had no reason to believe that Mr Mandelson's sphere of influence is not far from what's going on".