Election – Ex-aide to Labour MP stands for Tories after claiming he was SPIED on by Momentum ‘bullies’

A FORMER aide to a Labour MP has defected to the Tories ahead of the general election after claiming he was SPIED on by ‘bullies’ in the party.

Lee Anderson said hard-left colleagues called him a “traitor” because he voted for Brexit.

Mr Anderson, an ex-miner who worked for MP Gloria de Piero, said Labour officials also camped outside his house and spied on him while he cared for his terminally sick wife.

The life-long Labour supporter will now stand for the Tories in Mrs de Piero’s old seat, Ashfield in Nottinghamshire.

He told : “It was like being in a crowded room of people who were whispering all the time. Finger-pointing, I'm a freak in the house, the Brexit freak.

There was social media bullying, 'traitor', 'Tory-boy', 'scum'. People were camped outside, spying on me.

Lee Anderson

“There was social media bullying, 'traitor', 'Tory-boy', 'scum'. People were camped outside, spying on me.

“At the time my wife was terminally ill and we thought she only had a few months to live. They said I was just using her illness as an excuse not to attend a meeting.”

Mr Anderson said he felt like his local Labour party was taken over by Momentum “almost overnight” – after Jeremy Corbyn became party boss in 2015.

LABOUR SLUR SCANDAL

Labour is facing a candidate crisis after 12 MP hopefuls found themselves embroiled in offensive slur scandals last week.

Four wannabe Labour MPs were exposed within 24 hours over sexist and racist comments.

Experts said they made up a “dodgy dozen” raising serious questions about Labour’s vetting process.

Three of the latest to be unmasked dropped out of the Election. But the fourth — Ian Byrne — managed to cling on after apologising for his remarks.

I want people to be educated to get away from that kind of disgusting misogynistic language that he’s put forward.

Jeremy Corbyn

Byrne, selected for the safe Labour seat of Liverpool Derby West, colluded in sick jibes against female politicians and made a rape joke.

Hours after he appeared at a Manchester rally with Mr Corbyn it emerged he shared a Facebook message about underwear tycoon and Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone. It included a call to “hit the c*** where it hurts”.

Among other sick insults, he even wrote it would “only be a matter of time before Boris Johnson’s mum comes forward and tells us that she was raped by Jimmy Saville [sic].”

Mr Corbyn later described the comments as “disgusting and disgraceful and totally unacceptable".

He added: “I hope and believe that he has very much changed his personality and his approach.

"And I want people to be educated to get away from that kind of disgusting misogynistic language that he’s put forward."

Labour has been approached for comment on the claims by Mr Anderson.

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