Local chairman quits with a swipe at ‘clown’ party leader

A FURIOUS chairman of a local Labour party has quit after a Corbyn ally was parachuted in to replace the disgraced MP Keith Vaz.

John Thomas, 75, resigned from Labour after 34 years – insisting Claudia Webbe’s selection in Leicester East was a ‘fix’.

In his stinging letter of resignation, he attacked Jeremy Corbyn’s Brexit policy, writing: ‘I can no longer follow the clown that leads the Labour Party, he is heavily influenced by the Trotskyite Len McCluskey [Unite union leader] and is now the hokey cokey leader, in out, and shake it all about.

‘He has turned this great party into a laughing stock.

‘I am also shocked that you have chosen a candidate who is a councillor in Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington CLP to be the Labour candidate for Leicester East for the next general election. Where is the democracy in all this? It is a fix and a disgrace.’ Mr Vaz, who had been the local MP since 1987, stood down after being handed a sixmonth Commons ban for offering to buy cocaine for two male prostitutes. Miss Webbe, pictured, who is a member of Labour’s ruling NEC, will now defend the seat’s 22,000 majority. A Labour Party source said: ‘Claudia Webbe is a BAME woman who was born in and grew up in Leicester. Her knowledge of the constituency, her extensive experience as a councillor and as a campaigner for equality for all ethnic minority groups make her an excellent candidate. ‘The panel that chose her as a candidate included regional and local constituency representatives.’