Blair Babe dumped and replaced by gay man

A Labour woman MP who was a prominent "Blair Babe" has been dumped by the party amid feuding and charges of sexism.

Jane Griffiths was dropped as candidate after she fell out with other MPs and complained of bullying by male officials in her local party.

She will be replaced in Reading East by councillor Tony Page, who has two convictions relating to picking up men for gay sex in public places.

Mr Page was backed by Martin Salter, MP for neighbouring Reading West, whose long-running feud with Ms Griffiths is legendary at Westminster.

She was feted by Labour after winning her marginal seat from the Tories in the landslide victory of 1997. But the relationship soon turned sour.

Ms Griffiths, 49, called the party "institutionally sexist" and said of Labour men: "They treat me and others like a girl who should not be playing big boys' games." A self-confident politician, she compares herself-to the Iron Lady on her website, declaring: "I am the first woman MP for Reading. That can never be taken away - just as it can never be taken away from Margaret Thatcher that she was the first woman prime minister."

At a selection meeting in Reading last night, local party members voted to replace her as the candidate at the next election. She is expected to carry on as an MP until then.

Mr Page, 50, is a former adviser to ex-Cabinet minister Jack Cunningham and Labour MP Gerald Kaufman. His two convictions, in 1989 and 1995, both resulted in conditional discharges. They involved " cottaging" and might no longer be against the law following changes introduced since Labour came to power.

On the first occasion he was arrested following an encounter with a man in a public car park. The second incident took place in a lavatory cubicle at Reading train station.

A Labour spokesman said: "These particular offences may not even be offences any more under changes in law that have happened since. They are not major convictions."

While Ms Griffiths caused trouble for Labour over the issue of sexism, she was largely a loyal Blairite who could be trusted to support the Government on most issues.

Tory chairman Liam Fox seized on her departure to declare the end of an era at Westminster.

He said: "The removal of one of the most prominent Blair babes shows that the revolt against Tony Blair is well under way inside his own party."