Labour peer is expelled after poll protest

A senior Labour peer has been expelled from the party after protesting at the imposition of the Tory defector Shaun Woodward as Labour's general election candidate in the St Helens South constituency.

Lord Stoddart, who was MP for Swindon from 1970 to 1983 and served as a whip in the Wilson and Callaghan governments, described the move as "an unpleasant end" to party membership.

He was suspended from the party whip in the Lords in July last year because of his repeated objection to the inclusion of Mr Woodward on a shortlist of candidates for the solid Labour seat.

Lord Stoddart wrote a letter of support to Neil Thompson, who quit the party to stand as an independent against Mr Woodward, and also made a donation to his election expenses.

In a statement yesterday, the peer revealed that he had been sent a letter on Christmas Eve by the Government's Chief Whip in the Lords, Lord Carter, stating that the suspension was being made permanent. A formal letter of expulsion is being sent by David Triesman, the party general secretary.

Lord Stoddart said: "Whilst this is an unpleasant way to end my 54 years' membership of the Labour Party, I have to say that I have become increasingly critical of the Labour Government and felt obliged to vote against them no fewer than 18 times in the last session of the last parliament.

"So my regret at my expulsion is tempered by the knowledge that the present Labour Party is not the one I originally joined and certainly would not join as a new member at present."

Lord Stoddart is a former lord commissioner of the Treasury and was a Labour councillor for 18 years, during which time he served as leader of Reading council.

He said he did not intend to join another political party and would sit in the Lords as an independent Labour peer.