'Unethical' Sun has damaged us, says Tory Zac Goldsmith

Zac Goldsmith gave David Cameron a fresh headache today after attacking the Sun newspaper, declaring that its backing had harmed the Tories.

The environmentalist, who is standing in the Richmond Park constituency at the general election, said he was "repulsed" by the tabloid's coverage of Gordon Brown's letter to the mother of a dead soldier.

Multi-millionaire Mr Goldsmith is already under fire over revelations that he has "non-dom" tax status and Labour today called for him to be barred from the Commons in an Early Day Motion. Mr Goldsmith, 34, refuses to say which tax benefits he received from his "non-dom" status or when he will relinquish it.

His remarks over the Sun threatened to cause further embarrassment for the Tory leader who was delighted to win the backing of Rupert Murdoch's paper in October. Mr Goldsmith said that the Sun's treatment of Mr Brown over his letter to the grieving mother had left him with "a very odd feeling".

"My heart went out to Gordon Brown and I was repulsed by the Sun and I thought, 'My God, I did not want this newspaper to be backing my campaign'," he said. "It is immoral and unethical and wrong. The Conservative party by default got caught up by this, which is a shame." With opinion polls narrowing, he added that the party's association with the Sun had led to a fall in Tory support.

A spokeswoman for Mr Cameron today said: "Zac is a candidate, not a frontbencher. He does not have influence over policy."