SIR – While it is true that Mike Foster and I haven’t exactly seen eye to eye over recent years, I was still shocked to read that forces within the Worcester Labour Party want to silence him and fellow activist Daniel Walton for speaking out about Labour’s shambolic selection contest which saw someone labelled a fantastic selected as their parliamentary candidate.

While I am saddened that a party which once prided itself on being open and tolerant is now clearly anything but, I am not surprised.

Worcester Labour Party has form in this regard.

Don’t take my word for it, here’s the words of my late friend and former Labour Councillor David Candler who said “control of the party in Worcester has effectively been in the hands of a small pernicious group skilled in the art of control freakery” or more recently what the local Labour Party’s former vice-chairman Elaine Donnelly wrote in a newsletter to members this year, “there is a general lack of political activity and political discussions are limited”.

Labour in Worcester is in trouble. They lost the recent local elections by more than 2,000 votes, their number of councillors fell and now it is clear they want to suppress discussion even within their ranks.

Cllr Marc Bayliss
Leader, Worcester City Conservatives