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The leader of Haringey council quit today and blasted “sexism” and “bullying” by supporters of Jeremy Corbyn.

After almost a decade in charge, Claire Kober revealed she will step down at the local elections in May after her ruling Labour group was ripped apart by activists belonging to the Corbynite group Momentum.

The centrist politician said she was “disillusioned” by the brutal campaign to scupper a flagship housing scheme which was personally opposed by Mr Corbyn.

She confirmed that she will leave a final decision on the stalled project, called the Haringey Development Vehicle, to the next council leader — meaning it will almost certainly be killed off by the Left.

Ms Kober warned Mr Corbyn that “ideological dogma” would do little to improve the lives of thousands of people desperately in need of new homes.

Her departure follows months of bitter deselection battles in which “moderate” councillors were picked off and replaced by Momentum-backed candidates to stand in the borough elections.

Labour’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), caused further controversy when it said the council should abandon the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV).

Ms Kober rounded on the NEC for its “legally dubious” and “democratically unsound” intervention. She lamented the “febrile state” of Haringey Labour politics where, she claimed, “reality and facts” commanded less attention than “misinformation”.

Her harshest criticism was reserved for the attacks and infighting that has characterised the row over the housing plans.

She told the Standard: “The sexism, bullying, undemocratic behaviour and outright personal attacks on me as the most senior woman in Labour in Labour local government have left me disappointed and disillusioned.”

15 council leaders outraged at ‘interference’ London's council leaders have rallied behind Haringey chief Claire Kober, who announced today that she was standing down in May after months of personal attacks. Fifteen local authority chiefs signed a letter expressing outrage that Labour’s ruling body had tried to interfere with the way Ms Kober ran the borough. Earlier this month, Labour’s National Executive Committee asked the council to abandon its flagship housing redevelopment scheme — the Haringey Development Vehicle — in an unprecedented intervention into local political decision-making. Peter John, Southwark Labour leader, said: “Whilst I don’t worry about the NEC passing other motions or resolutions on my own council, this sets a dangerous precedent.” The letter was also signed by Lambeth leader Lib Peck, who said: “It is an affront to democracy for a central committee to interfere with the democratic decisions of elected Labour councillors.” The letter was also signed by the leaders of Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Merton, Barking & Dagenham, Brent, Greenwich, Redbridge, Ealing, Hounslow, Enfield, Hammersmith & Fulham and Harrow councils and Westminster council’s Labour group.

Labour infighting in Haringey broke out in 2016 over the £2 billion plan that would transfer council assets and land into a 50:50 partnership with private developer Lendlease.

Critics described the project as “social cleansing” and launched a legal challenge, which is awaiting a High Court judgment.

Mr Corbyn, who has led Labour since 2015, suggested at conference last year that public-private housing schemes would be impossible under a future Labour government, although it was unclear where the replacement source of funding would come from.

However, the council argued that it was the only way forward when it had more than 9,000 households on the council list and more than 3,000 in temporary accommodation.

It said the plan would create 6,400 homes and thousands of jobs — as well as a school, health centre, library and town centres — and insisted social tenants would get a guaranteed right to return.

In a letter to Labour chiefs, Ms Kober said she hoped the new Left-wing group, which is expected to run the council post-May, would come to the HDV with “an open mind and a determination to do the right thing for the many overcrowded, poorly housed or homeless households”.

In a swipe at Mr Corbyn, she later added: “I’m not sure that terms like forced gentrification and social cleansing help us in the nuanced and complex debate we have to have about solving London’s housing crisis.”

Ms Kober, who chairs London Councils, the body representing all 33 of the capital’s local authorities, rejected the offer of mediation today with shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne, saying it would be a “disservice” to other Labour councillors.

She said she had been “deeply disappointed” that the NEC had failed to inform her it was debating the HDV last week, adding that it had been “discourteous” for not allowing her to put the council’s side of the argument.

The Haringey chief wrote: “Ideological dogma will do nothing to improve their lives; only a determination to find practical solutions - in partnership with other sectors - offers them any realistic prospect of a better, more secure future.

“For me the responsibility of political office is to work to improve people’s lives even when that means finding solutions that aren’t always an ideologically comfortable fit.

“Political issues are rarely binary, solutions are not simply good or bad. Political leadership is about setting a vision and working to deliver on it using whatever tools are available.

"That is how we deliver improved outcomes for the communities that seek to gain most from Labour in government, be that local or national.”