Labour MPs banned from Republican Convention

Labour MPs are to be barred from the floor of the Republican Convention for the first time because the US governing party has ruled they are not conservative enough to attend.

Labour MPs are to be barred from the floor of the Republican Convention for the first time because the US governing party has ruled they are not conservative enough to attend.

A cross-parliamentary delegation of one Labour and one Conservative MP traditionally visits the convention, but only Tory MPs will be given access to the floor in New York next month. Alan Williams, a Labour MP and the chairman of the British-American parliamentary group, said he and his colleagues were "far from pleased" at the development.

"I find it strange that Labour MPs can be welcomed on the floor of Congress but not at the Republican Convention," Mr Williams said to The Times.

Mr Williams said President George Bush's party had been close to barring Labour at the 2000 Convention but the parliamentary group was able to get them to change their minds.