In October 2022, Guido secured the suspension of Labour councillor Theresa Norton, who had just been arrested for the fourth time as part of Just Stop Oil’s climate protests. Until Guido challenged the Labour press office, it looked like they were going to let her carry on, despite Sir Keir’s strong opposition to the disruptive demonstrations…

It’s now emerged, however, that Councillor Norton has decided to jump before she was pushed. While having the whip suspended during the investigation into her actions, she now tells her local paper that she’s made the decision to leave the party anyway because it’s not socialist enough for her.

“They asked me to qualify my actions.

“But rather than wait until January or February for them to make the decision, I chose to leave the party.

“As a socialist, I find that I needed something a bit more than what the Labour Party nationally are offering at the moment.

“I’m a true socialist and they’re not quite living up to my expectations of how a socialist government should perform.

Unfortunately, Scarborough Council is to be abolished in April of next year, so we won’t get to see how Norton’s extremist pro-crime politics would have fared at the ballot box. Just Stop Oil and their Extinction Rebellion comrades do seem rather allergic to democracy…