Just read this on a local email group, from a former Haringey councillor and soon-to-be-ex-Labour Party member:

I thought I would take a quiet moment and announce my resignation from the Labour Party.

Many people have done this over the last few years, and I regret that they have not communicated on this.

There is actually no way of resigning in a way that feels as momentous as it did joining in the first place.

Phoning up Head Office and cancelling your direct debit just doesn’t have much of a ring to it, does it?

After 25 years you feel you want to at least make some sort of gesture.

The Party doesn’t meet any more locally (or if it does, it is in private and I am not invited) - so going along and resigning is not possible. Hopefully some of you are reading this. You guys may think it has been one of the longest goodbyes you've seen. I guess it has. Working in recent elections has been interesting.

Of course the Party has changed since I joined it to support the initiatives of the Campaign For Labour party Democracy, and the selection process of Labour candidates and sitting MPs. I was thrilled to be the union rep vote that got Jeremy Corbyn selected in North Islington. What a great MP he still is.

I found it very sad that our ward recently assisted in the automatic reselection of our own sitting MP without the ability to debate or ask her any questions. Not quite so democratic.

But some changes are too fundamental and cynical to allow.

I want to be independent, so will not be joining another Party. I am not leaving so I can now vote for another Party with a clean conscience. Getting people to vote is a challenge in itself, never mind trying to sell the Party's record. Local and national politics deserves better than this. Reform of Local Government is nowhere on the agenda. Domestic issues seem too crime-centred.

Expedience is the order of the day.

What clinched it for me was the idea of going along to the Human Rights Lawyers Association AGM tonight (being held ironically at Matrix Chambers) and still being a Labour Party member. Impeach the crusader. No more Holy Wars. Another chapter of unnecessary British Imperial history. Could be an interesting evening.

I know that this government has achieved a great deal in social and economic welfare, but these were not Tony Blair's achievements. Anybody who wants to be confirmed into the Church in their first year at university (I had other priorities I seem to remember) has me wondering. A full third term is not a good prospect. Smacks of over-confidence.

So - time to phone and cancel my direct debit then....