Rule book setback for Yorkshire candidate in the NFU elections

But he is fighting on, making clear that he is looking for a platform from which to challenge for the presidency in two years’ time.

Mr Temple, a beef and arable farmer at Driffield, is currently standing for either deputy president or vice president – effectively the number two and number three posts. President Peter Kendall is up for re-election too but is unopposed this time.

Mr Temple is seen as a strong contender to be one of Mr Kendall’s support team. But now he has been told that because he was elected vice president twice before, even though there has been a gap since he stepped down, in order to qualify for another term in that post he needs to get 75 per cent of the votes cast by the NFU’s 90-strong national council after the annual meeting in Birmingham later this month.

With six other candidates in the running, that is a high hurdle, although there could be several rounds of voting to narrow down the field if there is no conclusive result first time.

He has no such handicap to overcome as one of three contenders for the deputy presidency, which would be a better launchpad for a challenge for the presidency in 2014.

But the NFU tends to vote incumbents back in if they are willing and the current deputy, Meurig Raymond, is thought likely to get the 75 per cent vote he needs for a fourth term – although Mr Temple is a well-rated outsider.

The president, Mr Kendall, also needs 75 per cent and will almost certainly get close to 100 per cent. But that sort of backing is only usual for those who are already inside the inner circles.

The vice presidency initially looked like Mr Temple’s best chance of getting back in the spotlight. However, if he is effectively ruled out of that race, he could benefit in the deputy presidency vote, because he has supporters who think he should be in the leadership team somewhere.

He did three years as vice president before he resigned from his last term a year early, in 2009, to deal with personal matters. He was replaced in 2010 by Sussex dairy farmer Gwyn Jones, who is standing again.

Last October, a review of some ambiguities in the NFU rule book led to a decision that anybody who had been elected to an office for two terms previously needed 75 per cent support to make a comeback, even if there had been an interruption. But it was not until last Tuesday week that Mr Temple was told about the decision and warned it would apply to him.

He said this week: “There is no disputing the rule but I was surprised nobody apparently knew what the rules were until halfway through the election system. In many ways, it highlights my argument that the organisation is stuck in procedure and needs a good shake-up.

“It needs more energy and ideas and I think I have more connection with the next generation.”

At 50, he is younger than any of the other likely contenders for the presidency in 2014 and he said: “This election is very much about the choice that is on offer in two years.”

He was nominated for the deputyship by 20 members of Driffield branch and has enough wider support to be rated a serious contender by the commentators.

Even before his spell as vice president, he did a lot of travelling and negotiating in Europe for the COPA COGECA federation. And his time in the NFU top team added to his understanding of the world picture, he says.