The Tory MP Christian Wakeford has defected to Labour, piling more pressure on Boris Johnson as growing numbers within his own party call on the prime minister to resign.
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.
In a letter to Johnson released on Wednesday afternoon, Wakeford said he believed “the policies of the Conservative government that you lead are doing nothing to help the people of my constituency and indeed are only making the struggles they face on a daily basis worse”.
Raising concerns about the “cost of living crisis” and how the country should emerge from the Covid pandemic, Wakeford said the UK needed “a government that upholds the highest standards of integrity and probity in public life”.
He added: “Sadly, both you and the Conservative party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves.” » | Aubrey Allegretti, Political correspondent | Wednesday, January 19, 2022
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