Infighting between Banbury Labour factions sees nine Executive Committee members resign amid claims of bullying, intimidation and misogyny

The chair, secretary, treasurer and women's officer are among those who have resigned. Those behind the scenes believe the schism has been caused by the division between those who were invigorated to join Labour and fight for a Corbyn government, against privatisation and austerity and those who support Sir Keir Starmer's leadership.

Acting treasurer of the Constituency Labour Party (CLP), Steve Uttley said the atmosphere has been 'toxic' for some time while Chris Howells, chair of Banbury and Bicester CLP, said the executive committee had been 'increasingly accused of lying, deception and a total lack of integrity by a small but vocal group of councillors and senior members of the party'.

In his resignation letter Mr Howells said questioning had turned to 'aggression and bullying' at recent meetings and that some members had ignored democratic convention to appeal to regional party bosses.

"In effect, a parallel organisation appears to have been established without any democratic oversight. In such circumstances the situation is intolerable for me as Chair, for the Secretary, for the Executive Committee as a whole and, I would argue, for the membership at large," said Mr Howells.

Phil Richards, CLP Secretary and Banbury Town branch Secretary, said: "The culture of the local party was not as welcoming as I first thought. I knew that the Labour Party as a whole has a history of left-right antagonism but at first I didn’t spot this amidst the general banter of the branch meetings. I detected certain differences of political opinion but I thought these could be overcome with perseverance, dedication, comradeship and hard work.

"At the CLP general meeting last Thursday, certain councillors and members... accused myself and Chris Howells of duplicity, engaged in abusive and bullying behaviour and behaved so atrociously that several delegates felt they had to leave the meeting."

"It was a foretaste of how people who don’t agree with decisions made will try at all costs to have them reversed outside the democratic structures."

The resignation letters, sent to the Banbury Guardian, give extraordinary insights into the local party including an allegation that a Parliamentary candidate for 2019 had been forced to withdraw due to a 'trumped-up charge' of being rude on Twitter, followed by a row over the chosen candidate.

Senior Labour member and 2015 Parliamentary candidate, Cllr Sean Woodcock said: "There was a group of disgruntled Banbury CLP members who simply could not reconcile the fact that Labour is under the new leadership of Sir Keir Starmer.

"On resigning, some of these members made allegations against other members, both named and unnamed. We take all such allegations very seriously and if formal complaints are made, they will of course be thoroughly investigated.

"However, I understand that other Banbury CLP members consider the allegations to be without foundation and will vigorously contest them. Our local focus now is on success under Keir’s leadership in the county, district and town elections in May."

Those who have left believe Sir Keir's supporters are on a mission to undermine many who joined Labour enthusiastically when Jeremy Corbyn offered a manifesto of less privatisation, re-nationalisation of some industries and restoration of public services.

"They have attacked and attempted to intimidate and deselect councillors they don’t like or who don’t agree with their point of view. Huge rifts... will take a long time to repair," said one.

"Sadly, this is a relatively small group of small-minded people out of a membership of 800 in our local party but at the moment, they are barking the loudest and they appear to have been emboldened by a leadership behaving in the same way all across the country."

Derek Evans who also resigned accused a 'faction' of aggressive tactics in meetings, 'often verging on bullying' and negatively affecting his mental health.

Sylvia Howells CLP Women's officer said some women members did not find meetings a safe or welcoming space for women. "New, young women members were appalled to witness such behaviour," she said.

"Even when a Labour woman councillor was being stalked and targeted it would seem the Tory councillors showed more concern for her welfare than her Labour colleagues. More alarmingly, such misogyny has also become increasingly frequent in CLP party meetings with some women members reporting recently as having to leave meetings, feeling belittled and bullied for having views that some sitting councillors have not liked. They have been shouted down or told to shut up leaving them feeling devalued, even leaving meetings midway through in tears."