In an effort to maximise the political damage on Boris Johnson, Christian Wakeford, a member of the 2019 intake of Conservative MPs, made public his dramatic decision to defect to Labour – just over 10 minutes before Prime Minister’s Questions.
With the prime minister already facing the threat of a no-confidence vote, the 37-year-old added to his growing in-tray of problems, becoming the first MP to defect from the Tory party to Labour since 2007, when Quentin Davies crossed the floor of the Commons.
The Bury South MP – previously critical of the “indefensible” reports of parties in No 10 during Covid restrictions – had been in conversations with Labour for some months over the move and first met with Sir Keir Starmer on Monday.
In a letter to the prime minister yesterday, the former councillor and Red Wall MP hit out at Boris Johnson’s “disgraceful” conduct in recent weeks and claimed the Conservatives were “incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves”.
This story is from the January 20, 2022 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 20, 2022 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
After five years stuck in the pits, China gets back in gear
A lot has happened since Formula One last visited China. Back in April 2019, the sport was celebrating its 1,000th race as Lewis Hamilton won for a sixth time at the Shanghai International Circuit at the start of a season that would see him win a sixth world championship. Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel were the other drivers on the podium.
Man City treble dreams killed by kings of Europe
Real Madrid won 3-4 on penalties, 4-4 on aggregate
Gunners fail to raise game again in meek performance
Bayern Munich win 3-2 on aggregate
Stubborn inflation rate kills off interest rate cut for now
The inflation genie has given warning that it isn’t quite ready to return to its bottle, sharpening the Bank of England’s interest rate dilemma.
MADE IN BRITAIN
With 62 screens and 31 hours of footage, John Akomfrah's 'Listening All Night to the Rain' is a visual feast exploring the UK experience, writes Mark Hudson at the Venice Biennale
How tragedy struck the cult group of rave and baggy
They were the \"southern Happy Mondays\": a gang of north London scruffbags who burst out of late-Eighties British clubland, perfectly formed to fit with the then-dominant culture, at the sweet spot where acid house met baggy.
'It was built into the story that we'd have sexist trolls'
The 'She-Hulk' star Tatiana Maslany talks to Tom Murray about Marvel fan misogyny, her part in the actors' strike and what she thinks about the recent revelations around kids' TV
Cavill's embrace of chivalry is all a bit strange in 2024
The Superman actor apparently ‘stands up every time a lady walks into a room' - a kind gesture but also one that whiffs of sexism, writes Oliver Keens. Isn't all this a tad outdated?
Big Apple jurors worming out of Trump trial selection
New Yorkers’ busy lives are under the microscope in Donald Trump’s hush-money case, as potential jurors have been bringing up their jobs, their political views, their busy schedules and even their dogs during jury selection in the Manhattan courtroom.
Strike on flat kills at least 17 as Ukraine requests support
At least 17 people have been killed after three Russian missiles slammed into a busy area of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for more air defences to protect civilians.
