Conservative MP defects to Labour as calls grow for Boris Johnson’s resignation

• Conservative MP Christian Wakeford dramatically defected from the Conservatives to Labour.
• The MP said Johnson had not shown the leadership “this country deserves.”
• It places Boris Johnson’s leadership in even deeper peril.

Conservative MP Christian Wakeford defected to the opposition Labour Party after calling on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign.

The dramatic announcement came minutes before Johnson was due to be grilled by members of parliament during Prime Minister’s Questions as calls continue to grow for Johnson to resign.

In a letter to David Nuttall, chairman of Bury South Conservatives, reported by his local paper The Bury Times, Wakeford said: “I wish to inform you inform you that I have today written to the Prime Minister to tell him of my decision to resign from the Conservative Party and apply to join the Labour Party.”

Wakeford said he needed “a government that upholds the highest standards of integrity and probity in public life and sadly both the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves.”

Wakeford was elected to the seat of Bury South in northern England in 2019. He announced on Wednesday had submitted a letter of no-confidence on Boris Johnson.

Labour confirmed the announcement on Wednesday.

—The Labour Party (@UKLabour) January 19, 2022