Good times were had by all at the Wansbeck Constituency Labour Party dinner on Friday. The all-star lineup included local MP Ian Lavery, his parliamentary colleagues Graeme Morris and Kate Osborne, Mick Lynch, and Labour’s North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll. All raising their glasses to champagne socialism.

It must have been awkward for Jamie Driscoll, though. He happened to share a table with ex-Labour members expelled for links to proscribed communist group Socialist Action, including Holly Waddell and his former campaign chief Tony Pierre. Presumably Driscoll made amends with Pierre after airbrushing him from history on social media…

Breaking bread with suspended socialists? People have been kicked off Labour’s candidates’ list for less in the last few weeks…