A WORCESTER Labour councillor has shot to the defence of Mike Foster - saying the former city MP's departure has left a "massive hole" in the Labour Party.

Councillor Simon Cronin said Mr Foster's withdrawal from the Worcester branch's ranks has left a huge void in the party - despite revealing he often disagreed with him on policy.

As your Worcester News revealed on Tuesday, Mr Foster has emailed members of Worcester Labour Party to urge them to vote 'ABC' in the leadership contest - which stands for Anyone But (Jeremy) Corbyn.

The intervention led to criticism being chucked his way, with one member swearing at him and others telling him it was unwelcome advice.

One Labour member also took to Twitter to suggest the email was an "attack" on Mr Corbyn and his backers.

Councillor Cronin has revealed he is actually backing Mr Corbyn himself, but insisted the former MP does not deserve abuse.

"It's one of those awkward things, there is nobody in Worcester Labour Party that I respected more than Mike Foster," he said.

"His departure as an MP has left a massive hole in our ranks, you can't replace that.

"He did certain things as an MP that I didn't agree with but I always respected his position every single time.

"I liked him very much - he was towards the centre ground and while I didn't go as far as him in that direction, which meant we differed on certain views, I always respected him.

"I always regarded him as a huge loss to Worcester Labour Party."

Mr Foster took the step of writing to the members to say they should back either Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham or Liz Kendall - anyone but the left-winger who is currently hot favourite to take over from Ed Miliband.

Despite more than 150 Labour branches in the country backing Mr Corbyn, the Worcester one has opted to support nobody - a reflection on the bruising contest which has split opinion.

Meanwhile Labour Councillor Geoff Williams, a former city council deputy leader, has warned that Mr Foster's email could have "unintended consequences".

"I don't think it was a helpful intervention, but then there's been a lot of intervention over this leadership debate in recent weeks and months," he said.

"I got wind of the 'ABC' email before I read it, so I knew what it was about and I expected it to say what it said.

"But things like this can have unforeseen consequences."

He said he had yet to make his mind up over which candidate to back.

Mr Foster was Worcester's first and only ever Labour MP, from 1997 to 2010.