Tory MP Christian Wakeford defects to Labour
- Published
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed his newest MP to the fold
Tory MP Christian Wakeford has defected to the Labour Party and called on Boris Johnson to quit as prime minister.
Mr Wakeford took the Bury South seat from Labour at the 2019 general election by just 402 votes.
But he will now sit as a Labour MP, with his new party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, offering him a "warm welcome".
The ex-Tory was believed to have written a letter of no confidence in the prime minister after revelations about lockdown parties in No 10.
Appearing alongside Sir Keir, he said it had "been a bit of a whirlwind" since he made the announcement, but he had been well received by the party.
n a letter to the PM, Mr Wakeford told said: "You and the Conservative Party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves".
His defection came just ahead of Prime Minister's Questions, with Labour MPs cheering him as he crossed the floor of the Commons to join his new colleagues.
But some of his former Conservative colleagues who were also elected in 2019 said they felt "betrayal" over the defection.
One of his peers also said they felt "let down" by his choice, but said it had "unified the party".
Labour confirmed that Sir Keir and Mr Wakeford first met on Monday to discuss his defection, but the local party did not know before the news became public.
In his letter, Mr Wakeford said Labour was "ready to provide an alternative government that this country can be proud of, and not embarrassed by".
He said the changes his constituents needed could "only be delivered by a Labour government with Keir Starmer".
Wakeford's long walk to defection
Christian Wakeford had been a Conservative party member for nearly 20 years and it wasn't so-called "partygate" which provoked his defection.
The Chairman of the Conservatives' Northern Research Group, Jake Berry, suggested the Bury South MP's change of political affiliation had been "hot-headed".
But, in fact, the process had taken four months, during which his discontent with his own party had simmered.
It was he who had first approached Labour four months ago, and not vice versa.
The party immediately saw his worth.
But Jake Berry, Tory MP and former Northern Powerhouse Minister, said: "I think it was a terrible mistake by Christian... I think he's misjudged the mood of his constituents."
He told BBC Politics Live: "I think it's slightly hot-headed of him. Of course it is his decision, but I don't think his decision is one that the people of Bury South will support."
Offering Mr Wakeford a "warm welcome" to his party at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said: "As Christian said, the policies of the Conservative government are doing nothing to help the people of Bury South and indeed are only making the struggles they face on a daily basis worse."
Mr Johnson replied: "The Conservative Party won Bury South for the first time in a generation under this prime minister."
He said the party had won "on an agenda of uniting and levelling up and delivering for the people of Bury South. We will win again in Bury South," to loud cheers from Conservative MPs.
But Sir Keir said "Bury South is now a Labour seat, prime minister."
'By-election needed'
The left-wing Momentum campaign group said Mr Wakeford "should be nowhere near the Labour Party".
"Wakeford should be booted out of Labour and a by-election called immediately," a spokesman added. "Labour must back a candidate that will stand up for the people of Bury South and against this Tory government."
The last MP to defect from the Conservatives to Labour was Quentin Davies in 2007, when Gordon Brown was prime minister. Before that it was Robert Jackson in 2005 and Shaun Woodward, who joined Tony Blair's Labour Party in 1999.
Mr Wakeford is one of the Red Wall Conservatives, who won traditional Labour seats in the north of England at the 2019 election.
The 37-year-old former insurance broker and Lancashire county councillor took Bury South by just 402 votes from Labour candidate Lucy Burke.