Mayor quits Labour over ‘its march to fascism’

A MAYOR quit the Labour Party last night claiming it was ‘marching towards fascism’.

Allan Barclay, who is mayor of Hartlepool, said Labour had become a ‘ party of antiSemites, racists and homophobes’ under Jeremy Corbyn.

He accused the Labour leader of wanting British soldiers to be prosecuted as a result of their service to their country.

Mr Barclay, 65, demanded Mr Corbyn’s resignation, saying it was the only way to make Labour respectable again.

He said he first became involved with Labour aged 1 and joined the party in the early 1990s after serving in the Royal Engineers for 2 years.

But Mr Barclay said in a resignation letter that he felt the Labour Party was now unrecognisable and had been infiltrated by people who did not hold its values.

‘As an Armed Forces veteran I fear it is at a dark turning point and marching towards fascism at a steady pace,’ he said. ‘It has become the Nasty Party.’

A Labour source accused the mayor of being bitter about being deselected and said he was resigning before being forced to step down.

The insider added: ‘The letter is full of inaccuracies and inventions and no evidence is provided for his absurd and deeply offensive allegations.’

‘Become the Nasty Party’