Former Labour minister resigns from party: 'It's just not the place for me any more'

A former Labour MP and minister has resigned from the party after saying “it’s just not the place for me any more”.

Tom Harris said he was leaving after 34 years as a party member and described the decision as feeling “like a bereavement”.

Mr Harris served as MP for Glasgow Cathcart and then Glasgow South between 2001 and 2015 and as a transport minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2006 to 2008.

He told The Herald: “I have not been kicked out. I’ve resigned. I’m just an ordinary member of the Labour Party who has decided to resign after 34 years.

“It felt a wee bit like a bereavement, I felt a bit emotional, but it’s just not the place for me anymore. It’s a personal decision. It’s not a comment on any people who have chosen to remain. This is just what’s right for me. It’s just a personal thing.”

He did not plan to join another party, he said.

The former MP is a vocal critic of Jeremy Corbyn but did not confirm whether his decision was linked to the antisemitism row gripping the party.

He lost his seat to the SNP in 2015 and this year published a book titled Ten Years in the Death of the Labour Party, looking at the decade since Tony Blair stepped down as prime minister in 2007.

Mr Harris said he had written to Scottish Labour last week to hand back his membership.

His resignation was announced hours after Jeremy Corbyn used a newspaper article to try to defuse the antisemitism row engulfing Labour.

Writing in The Guardian, the Labour leader admitted the party “hasn’t done enough to foster deeper understanding of antisemitism among members” but vowed to “root out” anti-Jewish abuse.

He told Labour antisemites: “You are not my supporters and have no place in our movement.”

However, he was criticised after it emerged that chunks of the text had been copied and pasted from an article he wrote for the Evening Standard in April.