Tory MP Christian Wakeford defects to Labour, blaming PM's 'disgraceful' conduct

[Emrys]

Bury South MP says Tory policies ‘doing nothing’ to help constituents, piling further pressure on Boris Johnson

Just minutes before prime minister’s questions, Wakeford – elected as the MP for Bury South in 2019 – crossed the floor to sit with Keir Starmer’s party, declaring in a letter to Johnson resigning the Conservative whip that he was “incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves”.

The move will prove a huge embarrassment for Johnson, who is fighting to avoid enough of his own backbenchers submitting letters calling for a no-confidence vote. Fifty-four are needed to trigger a ballot. Many of those who have written a letter are members of the 2019 intake, like Wakeford. He submitted a letter last week.
...
To raucous cheers in the Commons chamber, Starmer “warmly welcomed” Wakeford to the opposition benches – gesturing to the MP who was sat directly behind him. “Like so many people up and down the country, he has concluded that the prime minister and the Conservative party have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserved.”

Johnson attempted to appear bullish in front of his own MPs, telling them: “The Conservative party won Bury South for the first time in generations under this prime minister, with an agenda of uniting and levelling up and delivering for the people of BS, and we will win again in BS at the next election under this prime minister.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/19/tory-mp-christian-wakeford-has-defected-to-labour-says-starmer

If there something Johnson's an expert in, it's BS.

Apart from the scandals currently swamping Johnson and his party, Wakeford's defection in a seat that was part of the much-hyped "red wall" highlights some of the tensions between Johnson's "levelling up" election promises and the absence of delivery, not least in these constituencies.

Not that I'm keen to see Bury South back in Tory hands, but such a radical defection is surely grounds for a by-election, especially as Wakeford has voted for some of the most deplorable Tory policies since the last election. It also maybe says something about Labour under Starmer that a Tory crossing the floor like this is even possible.

[Emrys]

1. A little wrinkle to add:

Christian Wakeford backed bill mandating by-elections for MPs who switch party before jumping to Labour
...
In September 2020, he presented and backed the Recall of MPs (Change of Party Affiliation) Bill - which was sponsored by Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall.

The bill would enable constituents to recall their MP and call a by-election if they 'voluntarily change their political party affiliation'.

Young Labour said in a Tweet: "The Labour Party must uphold Bury South members’ right to choose their own Labour candidate and constituents should be able to reassess their MP."

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/christian-wakeford-backed-bill-mandating-22802850

Young Labour on Twitter has hardly been welcoming to the new convert, and not without reason.

[LeftishBrit]

2. The previous MP for Bury South was Ivan Lewis, who started as Labour and ended as heaven knows what

So there's a bit of a tradition of er, party-independence there.

It's also a somewhat marginal seat, despite the 'Red Wall' associations. Lewis defeated and replaced a Tory MP in 1997.

Most party-switchers have not fought by-elections. One of them was Cameron's predecessor as MP for Witney, Shaun Woodward, who switched from Tory to Labour in the early 2000s. Witney has recently become more marginal at least in Council elections; but at that time was impregnably blue. Woodward stayed on until the 2005 election, when he relocated to a Labour seat and remained an MP for while. Cameron took over in Witney.

One of my early political memories is of Reg Prentice, who became Labour Education Secretary when Labour got in in 1974, thus Rescuing Us from The Milk-Snatcher (hooray!) but soon got embroiled in party quarrels and switched to the Tories (boo!) Again, he did not fight a by-election, but stayed on till 1979, when he moved to a Tory seat, and was re-elected for that party.