Former Luton North MP Kelvin Hopkins quits Labour Party ahead of disciplinary hearing

The former MP for Luton North has quit the Labour Party after waiting for more than three years for a disciplinary hearing to take place.

By Stewart Carr

Published 9th Jan 2021, 13:18 GMT

Updated 9th Jan 2021, 13:24 GMT

Ex-MP Kelvin Hopkins has resigned his Labour Party membership

Kelvin Hopkins, 79, represented the constituency from 1997 to 2019 but was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party in 2017 after claims of sexual harassment were made by activist Ava Etemadzadeh.

Mr Hopkins strenuously denied the claims and both sides expressed frustration with the length of time for the misconduct tribunal to take place.

Ms Etemadzadeh posted on Twitter: "Yesterday, I learnt that former Labour MP, Kelvin Hopkins had resigned from the Labour Party two weeks before the hearing was meant to reconvene (the first hearing was in August 2019).

"This is very disappointing news. I hope Keir Starmer listens to my concerns & fix this broken system."

Luton News has contacted the Labour Party for a statement.