A top Tory MP has defected to the Labour Party after claiming the Conservatives have become a “nationalist party of the right”.
Dr Dan Poulter, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, who also works part-time as a mental health doctor in the NHS, said he would not stand at the next election but would join the Labour Party until the vote, likely to be anytime between later this year and early 2025.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Dr Poulter to the party, describing his defection as a “fantastic” boost to their attempts to unseat the Tory Party.
“It’s fantastic to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to today’s changed Labour Party,” Sir Keir wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain’s future back. I’m really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey.”
In an interview with the BBC, Dr Poulter said he could no longer look his NHS colleagues in the eye and remain a Conservative as the party was not focused on public services.
“The difficulty for the Conservative Party is that the party I was elected into valued public services,” he said. “It had a compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society.
“I think the Conservative Party today is a very different place.”
He said his experiences on more than 20 night shifts over the last year in an overstretched accident and emergency department had been “truly life changing”, adding that those experiences had persuaded him to defect.
He said he believes the Labour Party is the only party committed to investing in improving the NHS.
While Dr Poulter will not stand as a Labour MP for the upcoming general election, he says he hopes to assume a role advising the party on its policies on mental health while focusing more on his NHS work.
The one nation Tory, from the left of the party, becomes the first Conservative MP to defect to the Labour Party since Christian Wakeford crossed the floor in 2022
High-level discussions between Dr Poulter and senior Labour figures have been ongoing for months, according to The Observer, regarding the timings and organisation of his defection, as well as what advisory roles he could inhabit.
It is understood that Dr Poulter had been frustrated by the disinterest of consecutive prime ministers in his views on NHS reform since David Cameron’s premiership, during which there was a strong interest in the NHS.
Dr Poulter was first elected to parliament in 2010 and served as a health minister under now-Lord Cameron from 2012 to 2015.
It is another blow to Rishi Sunak ahead of next week’s council and mayoral elections, in which the Conservatives are predicted to lose up to half of its remaining local authority seats.
Heavy losses at these elections could leave Mr Sunak at risk of a possible pre-election leadership challenge.
Ellie Reeves MP, Labour’s deputy national campaign coordinator, said she was “absolutely delighted” to welcome Dr Poulter to the Labour Party.
She was pictured with Dr Poulter on Saturday morning as he signed his Labour membership form.
“This morning I was absolutely delighted to welcome Dr Dan Poulter to Labour,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Dan knows that a Labour government led by Keir Starmer will focus on preventative care, child health and the social causes of poor health.”