Colin Sutton admitted he should have cancelled it sooner and appeared to take responsibility for the farce, which has dragged on for almost a week.

The Reform politician has been at the centre of controversy since last Friday, when it emerged he planned to take his true crime, one-man show, the Makings of a Murderer, on an 11-month tour.

It led to a furious reaction from the public, with calls for Mr Sutton to focus on his £79,000-a-year, taxpayer-funded job, which he only started two months ago.

Mr Sutton faced a committee of North Norfolk District councillors on Wednesday (Image: Henry Durand)

He initially claimed he could carry out the tour in his “spare time”, despite three quarters of the shows being on weekday evenings at venues across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.

In an interview with the EDP in which he confirmed the tour had been scrapped, he acknowledged it was “ridiculous” to assume he could perform at 127 venues.

His tone in the interview was significantly less combative and more conciliatory than it had been earlier in the week when his remarks to the BBC were described as petulant and lacking humility.

On that occasion, he had appeared to shift responsibility for the decision to go on tour to his staff, saying he had only committed to it after they told him it would be ok.

Mr Sutton with Nigel Farage (Image: Joe Giddens)

Political opponents had also accused him of “playing the victim” by claiming he had been subject to a “pile-on” which he said had been caused by the EDP's coverage of the story.

He made similar points in a peevish appearance in front of North Norfolk District Council’s scrutiny committee on Wednesday where councillors probed him on the tour.

The former Met Detective made an eight-minute speech in which he pointed the finger at his promoter and “certain media organisations” for his predicament.

TIMELINE OF 'TOUR DE FARCE'

He gave a timeline of the discussions that had led up to the tour being organised.

He has previously done national theatre tours talking........

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