Heidi joins Lib Dems – and claims TWENTY Tories want to quit

FORMER Tory MP Heidi Allen has jumped ship to the Liberal Democrats, bringing the party’s total number of MPs to 19.

Mrs Allen – who had quit the Conservatives to join Change UK before becoming an independent – is expected to stand again in her constituency of South Cambridgeshire.

She also said at least 20 Conservatives may be willing to follow her, adding: ‘I’m not saying everybody should casually resign the whip, but for me it was the right thing – and I know that in other MPs’ hearts they know it’s the right thing to do. ‘There has got to be at least 20.’ Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson said she was in discussions with other MPs.

Mrs Allen joins former Conservative Sarah Wollaston and ex-Labour MPs and Change UK members Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger.

At the Lib Dem conference this year, Sam Gyimah was the headline announcement after defecting from the Tories following his sacking by Boris Johnson.

Six of Change UK’s 11 MPs, including Mr Umunna and Mrs Allen, left the party after its disastrous showing in the Euro elections this year.

Mrs Allen told the Independent that Boris Johnson’s leadership was doing ‘irreparable’ damage to the party.

She said it was turning the Tories into a ‘Ukip or Brexit Party Mk II’ dominated by the ‘bullying’ voices of the hardright Eurosceptic fringe.

The new Lib Dem added: ‘The party I joined doesn’t exist any more.’

The news came as Parliament’s socalled rebel alliance descended into farce when opposition parties failed to agree on who to appoint prime minister in a government of national unity.

The Lib Dems accused Labour of being the biggest barrier to stopping No Deal after Jeremy Corbyn refused to stand aside as a potential leader in talks with the Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Independent Group for Change.

Alternative possible prime ministers to be suggested include Tory Ken Clarke and Labour veterans Harriet Harman and Margaret Beckett.