PRIME Minister David Cameron is pictured with a Conservative candidate at the centre of a local party row.

The Prime Minister met Gary Price, who has been selected as the Conservative candidate for the Brecon and Radnorshire seat at next year’s Welsh Assembly election, during his visit to the Royal Welsh Show.

Mr Price is a Powys County Councillor representing Llandrindod Wells but his selection, via an open primary, has proved controversial among some of the party faithful in Brecon and Radnorshire.

A source has said the location of the primary at Newbridge-on-Wye Community Centre had favoured Cllr Price, who is from Llandrindod where he works as a postman. The primary allowed any member of the public to attend the meeting and vote for one of four candidates to stand for the Conservatives in next year’s Welsh election.

The 36-year-old was first elected to Powys County Council in 2004 as an independent but contested the Brecon and Radnorshire seat at the 2011 Welsh Assembly elections for Plaid Cymru. He then joined the Conservative group on Powys council in 2013, a year after he was re-elected as an independent.

Local party officials have denied any disquiet over Cllr Price’s selection and he insisted he has ’100 per cent support’ from the local party.

A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives said Cllr Price’s selection had been ratified by local members after he won the primary.

The Conservatives hope to capture the seat, held by Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams, after Chris Davies unseated Lib Dem MP Roger Williams in May’s general election.

Meanwhile questioned over the proposed closure of Brecon's combined court, PM David Cameron has insisted savings must be found from the court service in England and Wales.

Mr Cameron was speaking in response to a suggestion from Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner Christopher Salmon that Brecon and other rural courts could be kept open if he was given responsibility - and the budget for them.

The Conservative leader was questioned during his second consecutive visit to the Royal Welsh Show at Llanelwedd where he also faced questions on the future of farming subsidies should Britain vote to leave the European Union.

Following his visit to the opening of the four day attraction, billed as the largest agricultural show in Europe, last year Mr Cameron had returned on its closing day, Thursday, July 23. After touring the showground in the morning Mr Cameron walked freely among the public with his family during the afternoon before departing by helicopter.

For more on the row over the selection of the Conservative candidate and pictures and reports from the Royal Welsh Show see this week’s Brecon & Radnor Express - on sale now