Davies says he visited woods to see badgers

The political career of the former Welsh secretary Ron Davies seemed to be at an end last night after it was revealed that senior Labour Party figures want to bar him from Welsh Assembly elections in May.

Party chiefs are furious Mr Davies misled them over reports in The Sun that he groped a builder after luring him into bushes at a gay cruising area near Bath on Monday. The former MP was summoned to explain himself to Jessica Morden, the general secretary of the Wales Labour Party.

Last night, he said he knew the area well and had been there "two or three times". He denied he had been looking for sexual partners but said he did meet a stranger. Mr Davies told BBC Wales's Dragon's Eye: "I have actually been there when I have been watching badgers."

Mr Davies, who hoped to replace Rhodri Morgan as Welsh First Minister, is now likely to be deselected as Labour candidate, The Independent has learned. Party sources said he might face charges of bringing the party into disrepute.

The former minister, who resigned from the Cabinet in 1998 after his "moment of madness" on Clapham Common, initially denied the Sun story, saying he was miles away at the time. The photographs could have been taken where he walked his dogs every day, he said on Monday. "I was nowhere near Bath," he said. "I have not been there for 15 years."

He said later he had initially denied being there because of his confusion over the timing.