Tory MP 'encouraged rival to stand against own party in Corby by-election' Greenpeace said that one of its activists held two meetings with Mr Heaton-Harris during October, pretending to be an anti-wind campaigner. The group said the MP appeared to suggest that he had contrived Mr Delingpole's potential candidacy in Corby to sway Conservative ministers over energy policy. In the first meeting, at the Conservative Party conference, Greenpeace said undercover footage shows Mr Heaton-Harris admitting to encouraging Mr Delingpole to stand. The MPs" words on the footage are unclear, but he can be heard asking the activist never to reveal the conversation, saying: "Please don't tell anybody ever." Mr Heaton-Harris is an outspoken opponent of onshore wind farms, and earlier this year organised a letter signed by more than 100 Conservative MPs calling on ministers to reduce their backing for turbines. Following Mr Delingpole's suggestion that he could run in Corby, Mr Hayes made the strongest public criticism of wind farms to date by a Conservative minister, effectively promising that no more turbines will get planning permission. Mr Delingpole then said that he would not, in fact, stand in Corby. Following those events, Mr Heaton Harris was recorded apparently suggesting that the possibility of a Delingpole candidacy had led to Mr Hayes" comments. The sequence of events was "contrived," he suggested. Mr Heaton Harris last night insisted that claims he encouraged Mr Delingpole to stand were unfounded, because Mr Delingpole had never formally been a candidate in the by-election. He insisted that he had not worked against the Conservative Party in any way: "I would never betray a party I have been a member of for 25 years." Mr Hayes said that there was no question of his being influenced by events in Corby. He said: "My views on onshore wind energy are longstanding and well known and certainly not contrived as an 'elaborate plan' involving Chris Heaton-Harris, James Delingpole or anyone else."