diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py
index f94fe966b6..f3c12328ea 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/metadata/basic_widgets.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ from calibre.utils.date import (
     local_tz, qt_to_dt, as_local_time, UNDEFINED_DATE, is_date_undefined,
     utcfromtimestamp, parse_only_date, internal_iso_format_string)
 from calibre import strftime
-from calibre.constants import ispy3
 from calibre.ebooks import BOOK_EXTENSIONS
 from calibre.customize.ui import run_plugins_on_import
 from calibre.gui2.comments_editor import Editor
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@ def save_dialog(parent, title, msg, det_msg=''):
 
 
 def clean_text(x):
-    return re.sub(r'\s', ' ', x.strip(), flags=re.ASCII if ispy3 else 0)
+    return re.sub(r'\s', ' ', x.strip(), flags=re.ASCII)
 
 
 '''