Blears told the Manchester Evening News that she did not think it was related to her expenses and insisted it was just the work of “teenagers with nothing to do on a hot afternoon”.

Local residents think differently. A resident who witnessed the incident told the Manchester Evening News that she was being targeted because of her expenses. “This is the people of Salford telling her that they don’t accept what she has done,” he said.

The Daily Telegraph revealed she had twice sold a London property funded through the second home allowance without paying capital gains tax. She subsequently agreed to pay HM Revenue around £13,000 to cover the unpaid tax.

Blears later resigned the day before the local and European elections, infuriating Labour activists who felt it was damaging to the party’s already beleaguered election campaign. There was subsequently an attempt to deselect her. Blears only survived this after offering a grovelling public apology for the timing of her resignation and her expenses claims.