Chester MP Chris Matheson confronted his party leader Jeremy Corbyn at the Labour parliamentary party meeting where he told him he should step down.

Mr Matheson was elected with a tiny 93-seat majority last May after taking the seat from the Conservatives’ Stephen Mosley but will be worried about having to defend his marginal seat sooner rather than later because of political fall-out from the Leave vote in the EU referendum .

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The city MP, who joined the mass resignation by shadow ministers in Corbyn’s team when he stepped down as parliamentary private secretary to the shadow justice team, was widely quoted as having spoken out in front of more than 200 Labour colleagues on Monday (June 27).

He is reported to have told Corbyn: “I’ve done something you’ve never done, and that’s beaten the Tories.”

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Mr Matheson was also supposed to have told his leader that he agreed with him on everything and his politics were right, ‘but you’ve got to go’.

The Chronicle asked Mr Matheson to comment on what he actually said but he was unwilling to go into detail except to say he was annoyed details had leaked from a private meeting. However, he did not contradict what he was reported to have said.

Chris Matheson on the campaign trail last year with Labour-supporting comedian Eddie Izzard

The city MP, who will now be on standby for a possible general election in the wake of David Cameron ’s resignation, said: “I’m just getting on with my doing job for this constituency.”

Mr Matheson was however willing to share his disappointment that the Remain case, which he staunchly backed in the EU referendum, had been defeated.

He said: “It’s awful. I stand by my view that it was the wrong move and the announcement on Friday by Airbus that it is now reviewing its investment strategy demonstrates my fears were well founded.”

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Mr Matheson is also concerned about ‘anecdotal evidence’ from Chester constituents about an increase in incidents of racially charged harassment against non-UK nationals living here.

“That was surely never the intention of people who wanted us to leave the EU. Chester is better than that and we will fight that kind of racism and intolerance,” he commented.

Tomorrow (Thursday, June 30) Mr Matheson will open a debate in parliament on bank branch closures after outlets in Hoole and Saltney were shut. He will introduce the motion: “That this House is concerned about continued bank branch closures and the damage that this causes to local communities, small businesses and the welfare of senior citizens; and calls upon the Government to help maintain access to local banking.”