Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell has been expelled from the Labour Party after admitting he voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections.

Mr Campbell, a leading campaigner for a second referendum on Brexit, said he  was “sad and disappointed” by the decision.

A Labour Party spokesman said “support for another political party or candidate is incompatible with Party membership”.

Mr Campbell, one of the key players in the New Labour era,  insisted there was “plenty of precedent” of members voting for other parties or causes and pointed out Jeremy Corbyn’s own rebellious past in Westminster votes during Mr Blair’s premiership.

And he said there was a difference in the swift way his situation had been dealt with compared to “the way anti-Semitism cases have been handled”.