SIR Keir Starmer’s treatment of socialist MPs has left a “sour taste” in the mouth of the party’s left, ex-MP Ian Mearns stressed today.

The former member for Gateshead, who stepped down last month ahead of July’s general election, blasted the tactics of the party’s right-wing leadership as “disgraceful.”

The damning intervention came after many socialist stalwarts were thrown out of Labour or threatened with deselection, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.