A LABOUR official who led a motion of no confidence in Bolton’s council leader has been unanimously re-elected to her post.

Sheila Jones was accepted as secretary of the Bolton West Constituency Labour Party (CLP) at a meeting last Thursday.

In September, she put forward a motion of no confidence in Cllr Cliff Morris to the CLP, just days after being removed as secretary of the wider Bolton Labour Party along with its chairman Frank White.

The pair, who occupied the two highest-ranked non-councillor positions within Bolton Labour, were understood to have questioned the suitability of Cllr Ismail Ibrahim for reselection, after he was exposed last year for not paying his council tax on time.

CLR members dramatically voted in favour of the no confidence motion by a margin of 50 to 19.

Martyn Sharples, who was re-elected last Thursday as the CLP’s chairman, said: “Sheila Jones is an excellent secretary who is principled and hard working, it comes as no surprise that she has the confidence of party members here in Bolton West.

“For me it is a privilege to have been re-elected as chair to work with her and a fantastic team of officers.”

No other candidates were nominated for either of the CLP posts.

The meeting was attended by dozens of members from Smithills, Heaton, Lostock, Horwich, Blackrod, Westhoughton and Atherton.

Mr Sharples added: “We fought an excellent campaign in Bolton West during the June general election.

“We had a really positive response to the Labour manifesto and came within a few hundred votes of defeating the Tories.

“We are 100 per cent committed to winning Bolton West for Labour in the next General Election whether that election comes in five months or five years.

“We are now working on the party selection process to ensure that we have our general election candidate in place early in the new year.”

After the vote of no confidence, which had no practical implication for Cllr Morris, the council leader said: “My leadership is a matter for my group, not the wider Labour Party.

“Although we have had some difficult issues to face in recent times – and some great successes – I have always been fortunate to have the support of my group for my leadership and direction.

“Challenges such as this are a normal part of political life, as can sometimes be seen locally and nationally.”