COLCHESTER’S former Lib Dem MP has spoken of a deep rift with other members of the party he helped to create.

Sir Bob Russell, who won four General Elections for the party in Colchester between 1997 and 2015, claims he is no longer welcome at the Lib Dem headquarters, Magdalen Hall, even though he helped to pay for it.

He also revealed a Lib Dem councillor tried to have him expelled from the party back in 2019 for speaking out against Lib Dem council decisions.

The veteran politician said his relationship with the party started deteriorating in 2018, when then chairwoman and treasurer, former councillors Anne Turrell and Jo Hayes, told him the executive committee had queried why he was still using a room at the HQ.

Sir Bob paid £25,000 from his own pocket towards purchasing the hall in 2002 and it was his constituency office until he lost his seat to Conservative Will Quince in 2015.

The building is owned by Magdalen Hall Company Limited and after losing his seat, Sir Bob donated his shares to the constituency party.

Read more:

He continued to use the room, paying for utilities, but has not returned since January 2019.

Sir Bob said: “I have not spoken publicly before because, although being kicked out of the party’s HQ at Magdalen Hall in Wimpole Road, which had been my constituency office for 13 years, was extremely upsetting, I did not want to appear disloyal to Lib Dem councillors who were heading the administration of Colchester Council.

“The perception I was rocking the boat would not have been helpful. However, with the Lib Dems from last week no longer involved in running the council I feel that I can do so now without being accused of disloyalty.

“I have been shown no respect, appreciation or acknowledgement for all that I did of benefit to the party by people who had no involvement in the party in Colchester since it was formed in 1988 and in the years of success leading to my election as MP in 1997 and re-election in 2001. All arrived later.”

The annual Oyster Feast at Colchester Town Hall , .Sir Bob Russell.30/10/2015.

Sir Bob Russell at the Oyster Feast in 2015

In January, Sir Bob also discovered a councillor had made an attempt to have him thrown out of the party.

The anonymous complaint, from 2019, accused him of bringing the Lib Dems into disrepute by criticising the party at a council meeting. It was dismissed after an investigation.

Sir Bob said: “I was a founder member of the Liberal Democrats, and for old time’s sake I have retained my membership.

“However, I have not been an active member for the past six years. To all intents and purposes I am a ‘non person’ with the local party.

“I have many happy memories of being involved from the outset in playing a leading role in the transformation of political life in Colchester.

“They were good times, including me becoming Mayor in 1986, taking over running the Council in 1987 through winning many seats, we had 34 Borough Councillors and five County Councillors at one point.

"We were the leading Liberal Democrat local party in the region.

“The good times led in 1997 to me being elected as the first Liberal Democrat MP in the East of England.

"Sadly, as the good friends and activists from those happy years departed – through death, old age or moving away – those that have followed have views and attitudes which do not chime with me, and vice-versa.”

After 40 years as a councillor, Mayor and MP in Colchester, Bob Russell has been recognised for his public service by being awarded a Knighthood in the New Years honours list.The veteran Lib Dem politician, 65, said the honour was a team effort and would

Sir Bob Russell was knighted for public service in 2012

But Anne Turrell, who was the group’s chief in 2018 when Sir Bob was asked to vacate his former office at Magdalen Hall, said Sir Bob would've been welcomed back to Magdalen Hall.

She said the party’s executive committee made the decision over the office he was using as they needed the office for a new parliamentary candidate.

Describing Sir Bob as a “brilliant MP” she said he wasn’t being thrown out.

“We asked Sir Bob to leave saying we needed for when the new candidate was selected," Mrs Turrell said.

“You could see he was heartbroken but he couldn’t understand it wasn’t his.

“We told him to leave when he was ready and he did three months afterwards. He would’ve been welcome to come back.

“Any member of the party is welcome at Magdalen Hall, you don’t even have to be from Colchester.

“Nobody has told him he is not welcome, he has made that decision himself. It is his choice not to be part of the party.”

Magdalen Hall was paid for via donations, including £25,000 from Sir Bob, and a mortgage paid for by members.

Current chairman David King added: “I have seen Sir Bob thanked, acknowledged and welcomed, whether to a lunch or an AGM or as a public figure. He has often been bluntly critical of the council and his former Lib Dem friends and colleagues but he has always had access and our time, including that of the leader of the council.

“We know in his current role he stands apart from us and we respond to him with courtesy and good grace, whatever the differences, respecting his place in our town’s history.”