Fresh headache for Sunak as ex-Minister quits to join Labour
RISHI SUNAK’S hopes of restoring stability to his party were dealt a severe blow last night when a Tory MP and doctor defected to Labour.
Ex-Health Minister Dan Poulter stunned colleagues by joining Labour and accusing the Tories of no longer valuing public services.
In a parting swipe, Dr Poulter – who works part-time as a mental health doctor in an NHS hospital – told the BBC: ‘I found it increasingly difficult to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye, and my constituents in the eye with good conscience.’
He also implied that it was the Conservatives – not him – who had changed.
Dr Poulter, who served as a Health Minister during the Tory/Liberal Democrat coalition, said: ‘The difficulty for the Conservative Party is that the party I was elected into valued public services... It had a compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society. I think the Conservative Party today is in a very different place.’
He claimed that he had ‘no animus’ towards the Prime Minister, but said the country needed an election as soon as possible, and that Sir Keir Starmer could be trusted to run the NHS and Britain.
Dr Poulter, who was first elected to represent Central Suffolk and North Ipswich in 2010 and who had a 23,391 majority in 2019, told the Observer he would hold the Labour Whip until the next general election but would then stand down.
He said he envisaged a future role advising Labour on its policies on mental health.
Asked if his constituents who voted him in as a Tory would be angry with his defection, he said: ‘I could have carried on to the election and then stood down, or I could have decided to call a by-election… and I thought on balance, because there’s going to be an election very soon, it’s better to work for my constituents through to the end of this Parliament.’
He added his experiences on more than 20 night shifts over the past year in a severely over-stretched A&E department had been ‘truly life-changing’ and had persuaded him to defect.
Last night, it was claimed talks between the MP and senior Labour figures had been going on for many months ‘at the highest levels’ about the organisation of his likely switch. His defection appeared to be timed to cause maximum damage to the Tories ahead of this week’s vital local elections.
Dr Poulter’s decision comes after former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson earlier this year joined Reform UK, although he had already lost the Conservative Whip.
Last night, a Tory Party spokesman said Dr Poulton’s defection ‘will be disappointing news’ for his constituents, adding: ‘What Dan says is wrong, as Sir Keir Starmer has no plan for our NHS.’
Separately, on Twitter/X, Suffolk Tory councillor Sam Murray said ‘good riddance’.
‘So glad I no longer have to apologise for his failure to turn up in North Ipswich regularly,’ she added.
‘Difficult to look my patients in the eye’