Patrick Stewart says Labour is no longer his party after 73 years of unstinting support

SIR Patrick Stewart, the actor, has abandoned his support for the Labour Party after 73 years.

The Star Trek actor, whose support for Labour goes back to 1945 when he stood with a placard backing the party’s candidate for Mirfield in West Yorkshire, said: “It doesn’t feel like my party any more.”

Sir Patrick accused Jeremy Corbyn of wanting a “disastrous Brexit” because it would “benefit him politically”. He said: “It seems to me to be just plain wrong to play with the country’s future in this way.” He added that he would be switching his allegiance to the Green Party at the next election as it was more in tune with his views on Europe.

The 78-year-old recalled a frosty encounter with the Labour leader after a theatre performance.

“He said, ‘You’re looking very well’, and I made some light-hearted riposte along the lines of, ‘You can’t judge a book by its cover.’

“For some inexplicable reason, this annoyed him, and he shot back, ‘You know, Patrick, you could just have said thank you instead of making a joke out of it.’ I couldn’t understand how he could take offence at such an utterly innocuous remark.”

In an interview with The New European, Sir Patrick said: “To be perfectly honest, I find it difficult to understand what Labour really stands for or what it represents right now. It doesn’t feel like my party any more.”

Sir Patrick had, until now, been seen as an unswerving Labour supporter.