Humiliation for Rishi Sunak as another former Conservative announces switching parties
In another embarrassing blow to Rishi Sunak’s leadership, former Tory MP Mark Logan announced on Thursday evening that he is defecting to join Labour.
There have been five defections in recent weeks from the Tory Party, as MPs jump from the sinking ship causing shock and controversy from all sides of the political spectrum.
Logan became the third Tory MP in the last two months to switch to Labour, joining Natalie Elphicke and Dan Poulter. The outgoing Tory MP for Bolton North East, who was elected in 2019, said the Tories had become “unrecognisable” from the party he joined.
He told the BBC: “I believe as a politician it’s incumbent upon me to be able to say, to look people in the eyes in Bolton and say that I believe that a Labour government is going to serve you better, your interests better, it’s going to be better for your pockets, it’s better for the economy, it’s going to be better for the UK.”
Starting the trend in January 2022, Christian Wakeford defected from the Conservatives to Labour. At the time the Bury South MP told Boris Johnson that, “you and the Conservative Party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves”.
Keir Starmer has welcomed the defectors into the Labour Party, which has drawn criticism over how the former Tories’ values align with Labour, given their voting records.
It comes not long after the outgoing Tory MP for Telford said she planned to back Reform UK in the general election. Lucy Allan insisted she quit the party – while the Conservatives say she was suspended first – over her support for a Reform UK candidate in the election.
Reform UK continues to be a headache for the Prime Minister as speculation grew in recent months that more Tory MPs were thinking of switching to the right-wing populist party. In April, Conservative Nick Fletcher caused a stir when he appeared to back Lee Anderson at the next election.
Former Tory Deputy Lee Anderson most prominently jumped ship from the Tory Party to join Reform UK in March. It came after the divisive ex-Conservative Party Deputy Chairman was suspended as a Tory MP after refusing to apologise for Islamophobic claims against London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The Institute for Government has commented that it is unusual for an MP from the party in government to defect to the opposition. The growing list of Tory defectors therefore highlighting deep factions within the Tory Party, or a leap for survival as polls continue to predict a heavy election defeat for the Tories.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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