In a surprising move, former Conservative MP Dan Poulter has announced his defection to the Labour Party. Speaking exclusively to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich revealed that he had grown disillusioned with the Conservative Party’s lack of focus on public services and no longer felt he could look his NHS colleagues and patients in the eye and stay on as a Conservative.
Dr Poulter, who works part-time as a doctor, formerly served as a health minister for several years under the coalition government. He will sit as a Labour MP until the next general election, at which point he will stand down. Dr Poulter has no animus towards Prime Minister Rishi Sunak but believes that the country needs a general election as soon as possible.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer reacted positively to the news, saying that it was time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain’s future back. The MP believes that Labour and Sir Keir can be trusted to run the NHS and the country. He argued that the Conservative Party needs to return to the compassionate view of public services it held when he was first elected.
The defection is just the third in the Conservative Party since 2019. Lee Anderson also defected, although he only sat as an independent before joining Reform last month. Christian Wakeford left the Conservatives for the Labour Party in 2022. Dr Poulter has said that he believes his constituents will understand his decision to change parties before the next election to prevent triggering a by-election
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