A sacked former Labour frontbencher has been booted out by his local party after a bitter battle to cling onto his seat.
Sam Tarry, who was dismissed as shadow transport minister in July. tonight learned he will not be able to stand again in his Ilford South seat.
He was defeated by Jas Athwal, leader of Redbridge Council, in a bitter run-off after Labour branch members voted to start the hotly-contested deselection process earlier this year.
Mr Athwal triumphed by a margin of 499 to 361 votes, and said afterward it was a "real honour" to be part of Keir Starmer's "winning team".
The contest was marred by claims of foul play, with Mr Tarry previously making a serious allegation of voter fraud.
The winning candidate said: “Today means Ilford can focus on the future and ensure that Westminster delivers for Ilford, that Ilford gets the investment it needs and deserves."
Mr Tarry was an ally of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and has been at loggerheads with the current party leadership in recent months.
He was sacked by Mr Starmer for giving media interviews on a picket line alongside striking rail workers - causing a massive backlash among the Labour left.
The week of his dismissal he said it was time for a "really hard think" about what the party stood for.
He said tonight: "I’m incredibly disappointed in this result, mostly for all my committed volunteers and the wonderful people of Ilford South.
"I intend to issue a further statement tomorrow on the process and outcome."
Mr Athwal - who counts shadow health secretary Wes Streeting among his supporters - had first stood against Mr Tarry back in 2019.
But he was suspended by the party the day before members got to vote after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced against him.
These were later dropped by Labour after an investigation, and Mr Athwal said he was the victim of a malicious campaign to prevent him standing for Parliament.
In a statement in 2020 he said he felt "tortured and betrayed" by Labour, stating: "It should never have gotten this far or gone on so long.
"My family and I have been through hell as this case has been dragged out. I am in no doubt that this malicious complaint was deliberately manipulated for no other reason than to exclude me from the selection to become the Labour Party's Parliamentary Candidate in the Ilford South constituency."
Following Mr Athwal's victory, Mr Streeting said: “Jas will be a superb representative for Ilford South. His is an Ilford story - the boy who came from the Punjab and built an education, successful businesses, and a wonderful family here.
"He’s led Redbridge Labour to three unprecedented victories because he’s a local resident who fights as hard for our community as he would for his own family.
“I look forward to working with Jas as Ilford South’s next Labour MP.”
Mr Tarry, who has been an MP since December 2019, won a majority of more than 24,000 in the safe Labour seat at the last election.
The Ilford South Constituency Labour Party tweeted tonight: "After twelve years of cuts and chaos under a Tory government, you will be a powerful voice in Parliament for local people and continue to be a strong champion for our community."
Mr Tarry has found himself cast out by the party leadership, with Keir Starmer saying he had no choice but to sack him for "making up policy on the hoof".
Following his dismissal, Mr Tarry said: "Let's be absolutely clear - it is not good enough, it is not good enough for the Labour Party to say that we probably won't be able to give you a pay rise in line with inflation.
"Because that means the Labour Party is committed to cut people's wages in real terms and that is totally unacceptable.
"If I'm sacked for having said that live on TV and not supposed to (have) been on that picket line then people need to have a really hard think about what the Labour Party is for."
In a scathing statement in August, Mr Tarry made an astonishing claim of voter fraud during the deselection process, saying there was “rule-breaking, concrete evidence of voter fraud, voter impersonation, widespread voting by party members not on the electoral register, and the dangerous whipping up of communal tensions to undermine the democratic reselection process in an attempt to unseat me”.
