Tory MP Christian Wakeford defects to Labour, blaming PM's 'disgraceful' conduct

[Emrys]

Bury South MP says Tory policies ‘doing nothing’ to help constituents, piling further pressure on Boris Johnson

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.
...
To raucous cheers in the Commons chamber, Starmer “warmly welcomed” Wakeford to the opposition benches – gesturing to the MP who was sat directly behind him. “Like so many people up and down the country, he has concluded that the prime minister and the Conservative party have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserved.”

Johnson attempted to appear bullish in front of his own MPs, telling them: “The Conservative party won Bury South for the first time in generations under this prime minister, with an agenda of uniting and levelling up and delivering for the people of BS, and we will win again in BS at the next election under this prime minister.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/19/tory-mp-christian-wakeford-has-defected-to-labour-says-starmer

If there something Johnson's an expert in, it's BS.

Apart from the scandals currently swamping Johnson and his party, Wakeford's defection in a seat that was part of the much-hyped "red wall" highlights some of the tensions between Johnson's "levelling up" election promises and the absence of delivery, not least in these constituencies.

Not that I'm keen to see Bury South back in Tory hands, but such a radical defection is surely grounds for a by-election, especially as Wakeford has voted for some of the most deplorable Tory policies since the last election. It also maybe says something about Labour under Starmer that a Tory crossing the floor like this is even possible.