Conservatives kick out one of their own MPs

From the BBC:

The Conservatives say they have withdrawn the party whip from Castle Point MP Bob Spink.

Mr Spink earlier told MPs he had resigned over the party’s failure to deal with serious “criminal and other irregularities” in his constituency.

But the party says it withdrew the whip – excluding him from the Tory group at Westminster – because he had emailed the chief whip threatening to resign…

In a letter the Conservative Chief Whip, Patrick McLoughlin, told him: “As a matter of good party discipline I cannot have MPs making threats to resign the whip at a time of their own choosing, if the demands of the party are not met.

“I must therefore treat your resignation as taking immediate effect”.

The BBC understands that Mr Spink was facing a reselection meeting in his constituency next Tuesday.

According to sources he had refused to attend that meeting and had demanded support from the party nationally or he would resign. The chief whip then took the decision to remove the Whip from him.

UPDATE: Bob Spink’s subsequent political journeys took him to Ukip and the courts.