Shockwaves rippled through Scottish Labour as it emerged the former Dundee East MP Iain Luke has resigned from the party.
The move came hours after the one-time Dundee council leader unexpectedly stepped down as chairman of the Citizens Advice Bureau along with another board member.
It followed a bitter row over same-sex marriages during the group’s annual meeting in which former SNP leader Gordon Wilson, an outspoken critic of same-sex marriage, was blocked in his bid to be re-elected as one of 12 board directors.
Mr Luke told The Courier that although he did not agree with Mr Wilson’s views on the issue there had been an unfair plot by CAB Labour party members to oust his former political opponent.
He admitted that the episode had soured his opinion of the party and that it was likely he would never vote Labour again certainly not at local government level.
Mr Luke said: ”After the meeting I tendered my resignation as a Labour party member to the constituency secretary.
“It was clear there had been political motivation behind the annual general meeting. I believe their intention was to get Gordon Wilson off the board for political reasons and for his views on same-sex marriages.
”Although I do not agree with Mr Wilson on same-sex marriages I believe he should be given the right to make his views.”
He added: ”The sectarian nature of that meeting and the obvious political plan for Labour party members to shout him down was out of order.”
Mr Luke was a well-known Labour figure in and around Dundee, having been a party member for 33 years. He rose to prominence in the city in the 1980s and was made council leader in the early 1990s.
The former lecturer was selected in 2000 as the Labour candidate to contest the Dundee East seat at the following general election and was elected in 2001.
Mr Luke said the decision to resign from the party that had shaped his political career marked a ”sad day”.
”I come from a strong Labour family and represented the party for many years. But my view now is that Labour has completely changed from the party I originally joined.”
News of Mr Luke’s departure was greeted with regret by Martin Keenan, chairman of the Dundee West Constituency Labour Party (CLP). He said that he had yet to speak to the former MP over his decision.
Mr Keenan said: ”It is a great shame that Iain has chosen to resign. He has been a great contributor to Dundee and the party.”
Mr Keenan stressed that despite Mr Wilson’s views, there had been no plotting before the CAB meeting.
He said: ”Whatever went on in the AGM had nothing to do with the Labour party. Certainly Dundee West CLP at no point discussed this meeting.”
He added: ”If there was a political motivation then it was carried out on an individual party member basis.”
Jim McGovern, the Labour MP for Dundee West, said he was ”very disappointed” to learn of the departure.
”My wife Norma and I have been close personal friends of Iain and his family for many years,” he said. ”Iain was a very hard-working local authority councillor in Dundee and, of course, a very committed member of parliament for Dundee East.”