MUSICIAN Holly Johnson – star of Frankie Goes to Hollywood – has thrown his support behind York Central’s Liberal Democrat candidate, Christian Vassie.

The York councillor, who is a composer, said today he had worked on various songwriting projects in the 1980s with Mr Johnson, whose hits include Relax and Welcome To The Pleasuredome, and now he had received his personal endorsement.

Mr Johnson said: “In my experience, Christian Vassie is a talented musician, trustworthy individual and all-round good egg. If Christian was running in my constituency, I would vote for him as an individual.”

Coun Vassie said one of his election leaflets carried a cartoon – drawn by his 13-year-old daughter Dominique – showing a Labour and a Tory donkey fighting under the headline When Two Tribes Go To War, the title of one of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s greatest hits.

“It is time we stopped allowing Labour and the Tories to play pass the parcel with our parliament. The parcel they’ve been passing backwards and forwards has nothing in it and the nation deserves better,” said Coun Vassie, adding: “After the election is over I will be seeking to do what Holly advised in his first number one hit: Relax.”