Red Wall Tory MP Christian Wakeford DEFECTS to Labour as Top Tory David Davis tells Boris ‘in the name of God, go’
A RED Wall Tory MP has today defected to Labour – minutes before Boris Johnson faces a gruelling PMQs as he fights to keep his job.
Christian Wakeford sensationally today resigned from the Tory party and will now sit as a Labour MP – lashing out at the “disgraceful” behaviour of the PM in the wake of the party-gate scandal.
The Bury MP told his local newspaper, The Bury Times, that he was throwing in the towel and the PM was incapable of offering the country the leadership is deserved.
Today he walked into PMQs with other Labour MPs and sat on the opposition benches in a huge snub to his former colleagues.
The gloating Labour boss started PMQs today by welcoming his newest MP to his side of the House of Commons.
Sir Keir Starmer started off his grilling of the PM saying: “Like so many people up and down the country, he has concluded the PM and Conservative Party are incapable of offering leadership country deserves.”
The PM insisted he helped win the seat for the “first time in generations” after Mr Wakeford’s defection and brushed the defection aside.
Today he insisted: “we will win again in Bury South at the next election” under his leadership.
The shocking news came as the PM fights for his job as letters of no confidence trickle in to 1922 chief Sir Graham Brady.
Several Tories have come out to say the PM should go after his dire handling of the parties scandals.
Last night several Red Wall Tories were revealed to be planning ousting the PM in a coup dubbed the ‘Pork Pie Plot”.
They sharpened knives as battered Boris insisted no one told him a May 2020 knees up in Downing Street was against lockdown rules at the time.
But many MPs are waiting for an official probe report from Sue Gray before making up their mind on what should happen next.
In a stringing letter to Boris today, Mr Wakeford, who has a tiny majority of just 402, said: “I have reached the conclusion that the best interests of my constituents are served by the programme put forward by Keir Starmer and his party.
“My decision is about much more than your leadership and the disgraceful way you have conducted yourself in recent weeks.”
And he accused him of making life worse for his struggling constituents in the North of England and did not have their interests at heart.
He said: “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.”
The MP revealed he had “wrestled with my conscience for many months” before making his dramatic decision today.
And he fumed: “I can no longer support a government that has shown itself consistently out of touch with the hard working people of Bury South and the country as a whole.”
The PM was one of those who had publicly come out to reveal he’d sent a letter of no confidence in the PM – but this now won’t count towards the total needed to trigger a leadership contest as he’s no longer a Tory MP.
The Bury MP, who was first elected in 2019, took a huge swipe at the PM just a week ago on Twitter.
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He raged: “How do you defend the indefensible? You can’t!
“It’s embarrassing and what’s worse is it further erodes trust in politics when it’s already low.
“We need openness, trust and honesty in our politics now more than ever and that starts from the top!”
The defection comes as a moment of high drama for the PM, and he fights to hang on to his job.
Several MPs have put in letters of no confidence and Westminster is swirling with discussion about who could be next and how many letters are in.
If Sir Graham gets 54, then it will automatically trigger a leadership challenge.
Boris would face a vote of all Tory MPs of whether he should stay leader, or they open it up to another contest.
It’s believed that today’s defection is the first Tory to Labour swap sine 2007, when then-Conservative MP Quentin Davies made the sensational swap.
Davies was a member of Iain Duncan Smith’s shadow cabinet, but joined Labour and then served as a junior defence minister under Gordon Brown.
