A former leader of Worcestershire County Council who resigned after being charged with drink driving is making a comeback, it has emerged.

Councillor Adrian Hardman has been appointed deputy leader of County Hall's Conservative group.

The move leaves him in pole position to now rejoin the new-look Tory administration, almost certainly as deputy leader of the whole council.

The veteran politician's five-year spell in charge of County Hall collapsed back in January last year after he quit following his drink-drive ban.

Since then he has kept a low profile on the backbenches, but was re-selected to contest his Bredon seat at last week's local elections and won with a thumping majority.

The Worcester News understands he was cajoled into putting his name forward to be deputy group leader by Wychavon's Conservatives, who met earlier this month to discuss their future strategy just before the elections.

Some Wychavon councillors were even plotting to potentially restore him as leader in the event of Councillor Simon Geraghty being defeated in his Worcester seat, but he also won.

The new-look Conservative group at County Hall, which now has 40 councillors after big Tory local election gains, met on Monday night where Cllr Geraghty was re-elected group leader, with Cllr Hardman his deputy.

Cllr Hardman said: "I'm still ambitious, I still believe I've got something to contribute and I've got experience of tough times, that's why I put myself forward - and it's because people asked me to do it.

"If you look at local elections, I still take the view that 'local' trumps 'politics' - people are willing to tick a box if they think a candidate is a good community activist, and I find that quite heartening."

After being pulled over by police in December 2015, Cllr Hardman was nearly twice the legal drink-drive limit close to his Bredon home.

He was banned from driving for 16 months at Cheltenham magistrates and fined £350, but had already quit as leader before it got to court.

This newspaper can also reveal how Cllr Geraghty has asked Tory politicians looking to join his new-look cabinet to submit one-page 'mini CV's' to him, so he can look at their skills and experience.

He has also not ruled out cutting the size of the nine-member cabinet, increasing it, or changing the job titles, but no decisions will be made for several days.

"We won't be making any announcements until after full council," said Cllr Geraghty.

"It would be presumptuous to announce the new cabinet until I've been reappointed as council leader.

"But I've said to everybody 'give me a one-page summary of your professional skills' - with 40 councillors in our group I want to establish what talent we've got, what they are good at and get them into the right roles."

It is not unusual for the Conservatives to have one group deputy leader, and a different actual deputy leader of the whole council - in the days of George Lord's administration Alwyn Davies was deputy leader at County Hall despite Clive Holt being second-in-command of the group.

But Cllr Hardman says he will apply to join the new-look leadership team, making his appointment to the top table highly likely.

Yesterday Labour group leader Councillor Peter McDonald likened the Wychavon Tories to "a Mafia".

The first full council meeting after the elections takes place on Thursday, May 25 at County Hall.