HUNDREDS of Labour members attended a canvassing event led by the local Labour group and left-wing columnist and activist Owen Jones.

Unseat Philip Davies-Win Shipley for Labour, is part of a national scheme targeting Parliamentary seats to build support for Labour ahead of the next General Election.

Activists were trained in canvassing and political campaigning at Shipley & District Social Club before they went door-knocking with Mr Jones.

The Shipley constituency – which includes Burley and Menston – has been held by Conservative Mr Davies since 2005, who Mr Jones described as “full of bigoted views”.

He said: “It was hugely inspiring to see so many people turn out.

“Shipley deserves an MP who fights passionately for the constituency and can have a Labour MP who does that while not talking out important legislation.

“I can’t wait to see Philip Davies’ face when he loses his seat to Labour at the next election.”

Mr Davies dismissed the event, held on Sunday, as a “publicity stunt to try to impress Jones’ hard-left friends”.

He said: “If Owen Jones thinks people in Shipley will be won over by his hard-left militant tendencies he has an over-inflated sense of his own importance.”

The campaign to oust Mr Davies is being led by Mr Jones and pro-Corbyn group Momentum.

Mr Davies is on a list of eight prominent Tory MPs, along with Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan-Smith, that targeted campaigns are being run against, hoping to create so-called ‘Portillo moments’ when the country next goes to the polls.

But Mr Davies, who saw off a challenge from Women’s Equality Party leader Sophie Walker earlier this year, said Mr Jones would be in for a “rude awakening” in Shipley.

He said: “The last time some metropolitan left-wing luvvie decided to tell people in Shipley what they should and shouldn’t be doing, they were called the Women’s Equality Party and they lost their deposit at the election.

“I’m not sure people in the Shipley constituency want Owen Jones coming up from London to a place he’d probably never been to before, to tell people what they should and shouldn’t be doing and what they should and shouldn’t be thinking.”

Sheffield-born Mr Jones said it was the Tory MP who was the extremist, criticising his stance on the bedroom tax, public sector cuts, LGBT rights and women’s rights. He said: “There is nothing extremist about supporting a living wage for all, or investing in our economy rather than undermining our country’s future with devastating cuts, or asking the rich to pay their fair share of tax, or bringing utilities like rail back under the control of the people of this country.

"I will be proud to come back to campaign to make sure Shipley has a local MP who will stand up for the community - not for bigots and for the rich."