Labour was plunged into chaos immediately because the chair of the Uxbridge native occasion give up hours after the by-election defeat.

Taking to Twitter to announce his departure as chair of Uxbridge and South Ruislip's Constituency Labour Party and that he was additionally ditching his membership, David Williams mentioned politics "needs to have principles".

In a parting swipe at Sir Keir Starmer, he added that former chief Jeremy Corbyn gave a "huge boost" to Labour.

He mentioned: "I have resigned as chair of Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP. I am also resigning my membership of the Labour Party.

"Politics must have ideas or we find yourself with folks like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss working the nation. Jeremy Corbyn gave an enormous increase to the Labour Party."

Mr Corbyn led Labour to two general election defeats during his stint at the helm from 2015 to 2020.

The Islington North MP currently sits as an independent in the Commons following an antisemitism row.

Sir Keir has blocked his predecessor from standing for Labour at the next general election to the fury of the left of the party.

It comes as the Tories held Boris Johnson's former seat in Thursday's by-election despite Labour hoping to take it.

Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell beat Labour's Danny Beales by 495 votes.

Labour's failure to win the constituency has widely been blamed on London Mayor Sadiq Khan's deeply unpopular expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ).

Both Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner pointed the finger at the charge for the most polluting vehicles being extended to cover outer London.

But Mr Khan today insisted he was "decided to clear the air" within the capital as he defended the controversial coverage.