Gyimah swells ranks of the Lib Dems
THE Liberal Democrats were last night celebrating another defecting Tory MP after Sam Gyimah, the former universities minister, joined the party in protest over the Government’s Brexit policy.
The addition of Mr Gyimah took the number of MPs sitting on the Lib Dem benches to 18.
However, the number of defectors could have been worse with Margot James being talked out of joining the party by David Gauke.
Mr Gyimah last night accused the prime minister of “veering towards populism and English nationalism” in comments in The Observer.
“You have a government that says law enforcement is the centrepiece of its platform, and yet says in another breath that it will pick and choose what laws it chooses to respect. This is in many ways undermining key pillars of our constitution and the functioning of our democracy. The issue for me is not just Brexit. It is beyond Brexit – how you conduct politics and the veering towards populism and English nationalism.”
He was one of 21 MPs ejected from the Tories for defying Boris Johnson.
Last night, Downing Street brushed off the defection. A source said: “This Government’s goal is to respect the referendum, which is why we will leave with or without a deal on the 31st.”
In 2016 Mr Gyimah was called “outrageous” and “mean-spirited” when he deliberately blocked a vote to automatically pardon gay men convicted of now abolished sexual offences.
His move comes after Jennie Rigg, the Lib Dems’ LGBT chairman, stood down after Dr Philiip Lee, the former Tory MP, crossed the floor.
Mr Gyimah’s defection news came as 35 Tory members and supporters of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy wrote to the Tory party demanding that control over appointing general election candidates is handed back to local parties.
In the letter to James Cleverly, the party chairman, the group said it had “serious concerns regarding the selection of … parliamentary candidates”.
It comes as Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, joined MEPs at the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth, holding a T-shirt that read “B------- to Brexit”.
The Conservative Party was contacted for comment.