Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant'
12th June 2012, 08:38
Derek Hatton, the controversial deputy leader of Liverpool Council, was thrown out of the Labour Party for belonging to the left-wing Militant faction.
Mr Hatton, who refused to attend his disciplinary hearing in London, condemned the move as "disgraceful and scandalous".
Labour leader Neil Kinnock missed Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons to lead the charges against Mr Hatton at a meeting of the party's national executive, winning the vote to expel the radical socialist by 12 to six.
The decision came after a day of frantic legal attempts by Militant supporters to prevent the hearing from going ahead. They failed, and the outspoken 38-year-old was found guilty of membership of the Militant Tendency and of manipulating the rules of the district Labour Party.
Militant, a faction inside the Labour Party advocating Trotskyist policies, emerged in the 1970s. In 1982 it was judged to have broken party rules, paving the way for the purge of 1986.
A year earlier Labour leader Neil Kinnock used his conference speech to launch a furious attack on Militant, and particularly Liverpool Council, which had clashed with the Conservative government over its budget. Mr Kinnock feared the Labour-controlled council was harming the party's image and his attempts to win a general election.
Militant tendency members went on to form the Socialist Party (England and Wales)
Mr Hatton, who refused to attend his disciplinary hearing in London, condemned the move as "disgraceful and scandalous".
Labour leader Neil Kinnock missed Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons to lead the charges against Mr Hatton at a meeting of the party's national executive, winning the vote to expel the radical socialist by 12 to six.
The decision came after a day of frantic legal attempts by Militant supporters to prevent the hearing from going ahead. They failed, and the outspoken 38-year-old was found guilty of membership of the Militant Tendency and of manipulating the rules of the district Labour Party.
Militant, a faction inside the Labour Party advocating Trotskyist policies, emerged in the 1970s. In 1982 it was judged to have broken party rules, paving the way for the purge of 1986.
A year earlier Labour leader Neil Kinnock used his conference speech to launch a furious attack on Militant, and particularly Liverpool Council, which had clashed with the Conservative government over its budget. Mr Kinnock feared the Labour-controlled council was harming the party's image and his attempts to win a general election.
Militant tendency members went on to form the Socialist Party (England and Wales)