Ramsay MacDonald was defeated whilst Prime Minister in a North Eastern constituency we are reminded by Derek Cattell, a member of Sedgefield Labour Party’s executive committee for ten years, who is quitting in protest at the Iraq war which he says raises questions about the “honesty and integrity” of Mr Blair’s leadership.

Derek Cattell, who is also a regional organiser with the GMB union, is putting his weight behind Reg Key’s campaign, saying he can’t vote through gritted teeth for Blair. The anti-Blair feeling in his own constituency went largely un-reported outside the left-wing press, but in late March protestors assembled outside Trimdon Labour Club to lobby the A.G.M. of Sedgefield Constituency Labour Party, (the people who select Blair), where an increasingly vocal anti-Blair, anti-New Labour element is feeling the full weight of a New Labour counter-attack. Veteran Labour party members are excluded from meetings and dissenters are given the full treatment in the way that only comrades can.

Guido is pleased to report that David Shayler has stood down in favour of Reg Key’s campaign and that the Reg Keys for Sedgefield Campaign is picking up most of the disgruntled Labour voters. Still no sign of a white suit, yet…