Mark Logan, a former Conservative MP for Bolton North East, has announced that he is backing Labour at the next general election. In an exclusive interview with BBC News, Logan stated that Labour could “bring back optimism into British life” and claimed that the party now offered “centrist politics”.
Logan won his seat with a majority of just 378 in 2019, making it one of the most marginal constituencies in the country. The former MP, who supported Brexit, also revealed in the interview that he was standing down and his application to join Labour was “going in today”.
Despite not personally criticising the Prime Minister himself, Logan pointed out that the Tory Party was “unrecognisable” from the party he joined ten years ago. He explained that it was more about the “pull factor” of Keir Starmer and fresh ideas than the “push factor of Conservatives”.
Logan’s decision comes after MPs Natalie Elphicke and Dan Poulter switched from the Tories to join Labour earlier this month. Despite their defection, they only briefly sat as Labour MPs before Parliament was dissolved for the election.
Before becoming an MP, Logan worked for the UK Foreign Office and was head of communications at the British Consulate-General Shanghai. He is currently chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China and speaks fluent Mandarin.
The former businessman and diplomat stated that he had been considering backing Labour “for quite a long period” and felt that his decision to support the party was mainly because the electorate voted him in as a Conservative MP. He added that the point he stood down as an MP was the right time to announce his support for Labour.
Logan compared the mood of the country to New Labour’s 1997 election campaign, claiming that “the time has come to bring back optimism into British public life.” He compared the current moment in British history to when Labour first came to the fore in 1997, with its anthem “Things Can Only Get Better
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