TORY MP and former health minister Dr Dan Poulter has defected to Labour.
The MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, a working medic, has quit Rishi Sunak‘s party to “focus on his work as a doctor”.
PA:Press AssociationConservative MP and former health minister Dr Dan Poulter has defected to Labour[/caption]
Labour PartyDr Poulter signing his Labour membership form with MP Ellie Reeves[/caption]
He will take the Labour whip until the general election, when he will not be running again, he told the Observer.
Dr Poulter told the newspaper the Conservative Party “feels like it has become a nationalist party of the right”, having seen a “rightward drift” since David Cameron‘s premiership.
“The health service has ceased to be an area of priority for the Conservative Party, and that is now showing in the strain on the front line and the deterioration of care for patients,” he said.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said on social media site X: “Proud to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to the @UKLabour Party.
“As a frontline clinician, he’s seen the damage that 14 years of Conservative government have done to our NHS.
“Delighted to have his support and look forward to working with him, especially on mental health reform.”
Dr Poulter also said Mr Sunak should call a general election “as soon as possible”.
He wrote: “I believe it is now incumbent on me as a medical practitioner passionately committed to our NHS to throw my weight behind the Labour Party in its determination to ensure we again have a health service of which we can be proud, and which best meets the needs of every patient.
“It is abundantly clear to me that the Labour Party alone has the will and the trust to restore and reform the NHS.
“That’s why we need a Labour government, and why I believe Keir Starmer must lead that government as our next prime minister.”
The defection is a significant blow to Mr Sunak less than a week before council and mayoral elections in which the Tories are expected to suffer heavy losses.
It marks the first time a Conservative MP crossed the floor to Labour since Christian Wakeford did so in 2022.
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the “fantastic” defection.
He penned: “It’s fantastic to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to today’s changed Labour Party.
“It’s time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page and get Britain’s future back. I’m really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey.”
In an interview with BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg, former health minister Dr Poulter said: “I found it increasingly difficult to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye and my constituents in the eye with good conscience, and I feel that the NHS deserves better than it has at the moment in terms of how it’s run and governed.”
He continued: “The party I was elected into valued public services, it valued, it had a compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society.
“I think the Conservative Party today is in a very different place – its focus is not on delivering or supporting high-quality public services.”
TwitterSir Keir Starmer welcomed the ‘fantastic’ defection[/caption]