FORMER Militant rebel Derek Hatton insisted yesterday that he had rejoined the Labour Party, despite attempts to keep him out.

Mr Hatton posted a photo on social media of his new membership card, which shows that he is a member of Liverpool Riverside CLP, as evidence that his application had been accepted.

Labour had said that general secretary Iain McNicol, the party’s top official, had personally “objected to this application to join.”

But Mr Hatton hit back on Twitter, writing: “Strange this arrived in the post yesterday from Harriet Harman the leader of the Labour Party!!?”

The row broke out after the former deputy mayor of Liverpool announced he was returning to the party 29 years after being kicked out for membership of Militant Tendancy.

His expulsion followed a conflict with then Labour leader Neil Kinnock over Liverpool City Council’s refusal to make any cuts in its budget.

Sticking to his guns, he said: “I think the Derek Hatton of the ’80s was dead right.”

But the 67-year-old said he felt he “should do something” to return Labour to its roots after its devastating election defeat.

“I think for too long now the Labour Party has drifted and drifted and drifted,” he told ITV Granada political programme Party People.

“There has now become no difference between the parties.”

Mr Hatton said he did not expect “anyone was going to have an issue” with his membership, because “the world is a different place, the Labour Party is a different place, Derek Hatton is a different person.”