Looks like Jon Ashworth’s constituents in Leicester South aren’t too happy about his refusal to aid Hamas on the ceasefire vote. They’re gathering to call for his resignation in Leicester. Guido assumes they’ll take the 7-minute walk to his constituency office on Charles Street. He might not be in…

The first of many?

Peter Soulsby has once again been re-elected as Labour’s Mayor of Leicester with a vote share of 39.3%. Rita Patel, the former Labour councillor who stood as an independent against him, came fourth on 8.9%. Patel was one of several councillors who organised a plot to oust Soulsby at a special meeting of Leicester City Council, only to fail and lose the whip. Now she’s lost again…

This will be yet another blow for Keith Vaz, who is alleged to have backed the anti-Soulsby campaign by encouraging Patel to stand. Her candidacy was dubbed by locals as the launch of “the Keith Vaz Independent Party“. All part of Vaz’s ongoing personal feud with Soulsby…

Unfortunately for Keith, it failed. The party’s over…

A turf war has broken out over in Leicester ahead of the local elections, with Keith Vaz once again accused of leading the charge. The row is focused on the city’s mayoral election, with Labour incumbent Sir Peter Soulsby standing again after surviving an attempted plot to scrap the role entirely last month. The plot was led by then-Labour councillor Rita Patel, who backed a motion to ditch the mayoralty at a special meeting of Leicester City Council. She and several other rebellious Labour councillors were accused of trying to “embarrass the party” and subsequently lost the whip. Now Patel herself is standing as an independent against Soulsby… just to scrap the job if she wins.

Where’s Keith Vaz in all of this? Locals are accusing the former Labour MP of orchestrating the rebellion and throwing his weight behind “protégé” Patel’s campaign, owing to a longstanding personal grudge he holds against Soulsby. One source tells Guido they’re now known as The Keith Vaz Party…

“Rita is now leading a bunch of Labour rejects who are calling themselves the independent party, but locally they are known as the ‘Keith Vaz Party’ and their slogan is “let’s get the party started”.

Another leaflet doing the rounds this week accuses Labour of “removing all Hindu councillors” and being an “anti-Indian Party”…

Vaz’s feud with Soulsby goes back decades, with Soulsby telling the Standards Committee in 2000 the pair had “a long history of quite a difficult relationship“, and later even that they had “a different attitude as to what is true“:

“…We have a very different view about what is proper in public life, and how one ought to behave, and a different attitude as to what is true and what is not. That has inevitably led to us falling out a number of times over the years. That is not a vendetta; that is a difference in personality and attitude.”

An ally of Rita Patel told Guido “Keith has been involved in local politics for a while“, although they refused to comment on his more recent machinations. There ain’t no party like a Keith Vaz party…

BBC Leicester followed up our story from yesterday about the untaxed, uninsured, MOT test-failing car he parked on the kerb by Adam Clarke, the Leicester deputy mayor responsible for transport. He spun them a tall tale…

The shifty councillor told the BBC he booked the car in to a local garage upon receipt of a late “reminder” some six months after his due test date. He claimed there had “clearly” been a mix-up with dates on the part of the dealership. Implausible. Not only would he have received reminders from the dealer, he would have also got incessant, aggressive reminders from the DVLA about the car being untaxed since May. He says he’s sorry he got caught.

Text sent by Guido to Adam Clarke the day before he got MOT test only six months late.

The truth Adam Clarke only got the MOT done the day after Guido contacted him. Is anyone buying his used car story off him?

This car belonging to Adam Clarke, the Deputy Mayor of Leicester, was parked illegally on the kerb on Monday – the picture was sent to Guido by a concerned resident. When we were looking into it we discovered it didn’t have an MOT certificate and was also untaxed, consequently uninsured according to the DVLA. Local sources tell me they have seen the shifty councillor driving around Leicester in the car. On the council, the deputy mayor has the responsibility for the transport portfolio locally. Is this responsible?

Guido called and texted Adam Clarke for an explanation on Tuesday, none was forthcoming, so we asked local MP Andrew Bridgen what he thought:

Whether it’s the Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby and his lockdown-breaking antics or the deputy Mayor Adam Clarke (responsible for transport) who is driving without tax and insurance. Surely the people of Leicester deserve better than this? Perhaps it’s a matter for the Labour Police & Crime commissioner to take up? Don’t hold your breath.

Leicester really is a rotten borough…

UPDATE:  A records check just now shows he got an MOT on Wednesday, the day after Guido called him.

What a coincidence…