Alice Mahon jacks it in!

Alice Mahon has left the Labour Party after 50 years. In politics there comes a breaking point for many and it seems hers was the mucky e-mail nonsense emanating from the No.10 bunker.

She told the Yorkshire Post, "My stepdaughter Rachel said to me, 'How could they do that to people like David Cameron and his wife Samantha when they had recently lost their son Ivan? What kind of people think it would be a good idea to smear them?'"I was sickened by that – that is not the Labour Party that I joined all those years ago.'' No, it isn't. It is now a party run by spivs for spivs. Whatever I may think of socialists or Labourites, they have in the main had principles and passion. Now it is all about cover-ups, being on the make, cynical posteuring for short-term political gain and just generally never saying sorry for doing wrong.

I've been an observer of politics of the last 50 years (sometimes getting involved) knowing of decent men and women in the Labour Party. I do not share their views or their aims and goals but some of them have a core decency for doing good. Teddy Taylor once said he had many friends on the opposite side and Ken Clarke has been known to enjoy a beer or two with John Prescott, mulling over old jazz records! Personal relationships can be foged acroos the political divide.

However, it is exceedingly difficult when respect for your oppnents is at a very low ebb. Alice Mahon will have a new life outside the Labour Party now. It hasn't done Clare Short much harm and she left for pretty much the same reasons.