he was a long-standing critic of labour's brexit strategy and in the may 2019 european elections, he voted liberal democrat as a protest vote. he announced this after the polls had closed in interviews on tv and radio covering the results as they came in. he said he did so, in common with many others, to persuade labour unequivocally to back a people's vote. two days later, by email, he was expelled from the party, a move which provoked a major media storm in which many other labour members outed themselves as having voted for parties other than labour, including cherie blair, charles clarke, bob ainsworth and betty boothroyd. a hashtag #expelmetoo trended on twitter as ordinary members expressed their support for campbell. he immediately appealed the decision, saying tactical voting was not a breach of the rule under which he had been expelled, and arguing that unless all others who had acted as he did were expelled he also had a case for discrimination. labour deputy leader tom watson condemned the expulsion as "spiteful" and a number of senior mps immediately called for the decision to be reversed, and an amnesty of all who voted against labour in the european elections.