WDB
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Post by WDB on Jan 20, 2022 8:55:38 GMT
It’s one thing among many that date from a bygone era. It’s part of a whole electoral system that’s overdue for a redesign.
Crossing the floor is still very rare, though, as it’s usually career-limiting — as with Philip Lee in the last parliament. Wakeford’s move is a surprise, though, given that his voting record is pure Johnson. Hard to see what use Labour has for him except as a propaganda coup.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2022 9:45:35 GMT
Grey area in the UK, isn't it, like whole swathes of our alleged constituion, as we can see before our very eyes at the moment. What I think is that we should have PR.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Jan 20, 2022 15:51:11 GMT
I thought it would trigger a by-election as the MP no longer represents the party the people voted for - assuming they vote along party lines rather than for the individual.
Rather career limiting for a bit of gesture politics you'd think. A by-election in a strong conservative seat would return another conservative MP surely.
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Post by bromptonaut on Jan 20, 2022 16:03:11 GMT
As WDB says it's pretty rare. There's a list on Wiki but apart from mass defections like to the SDP and those around Brexit most listed are moving to independent because of policy or discipline issues within their party.
I think I'd follow the principle that they're elected to do the best for their constituents and if their conscience is such that they change party to do so then that's how it works. I've no idea of Wakeford's background but the 'pure Johnson' voting record may do no more than indicate the MP's who are (a) new bugs and (b) harbour hopes of promotion have to toe the line. There are also stories of MP's being threatened over how public money is disbursed in their constituency if they vote against the Whip. That is corruption and blackmail and one hopes somebody will have the cojones to pursue it as such.
Its also noticeable that Wakeford and fellow rebel Dehanna Davies are the subject of tittle tattle about their drinking etc in Today's Daily Wail.
What does stick in my craw is when MPs who have crossed the floor are rewarded with a safe seat elsewhere. Way back when this constituency was saddled with Reg Prentice on that basis. ISTR a defectee to Labour in the Blair years getting St Helens after representing a solid Tory seat in the Midlands.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Jan 20, 2022 20:22:23 GMT
Shaun Woodward. I’d forgotten him. MP for Witney, then sacked by Hague from the front bench for supporting the repeal of Thatcher’s notorious Section 28. Instructive to remember that that sort of bigotry was still Party policy several years into this century.
Woodward does at least seem to have felt that he had more in common with the party opposite than with his own. Not sure the same is true of Wakeford.
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Post by EspadaIII on Jan 20, 2022 20:55:52 GMT
Wakeford is the MP for Bury South, my old constituency and the one I voted in, in 2019 immediately before we moved house.
The southern part of Bury South is heavily Jewish and although it has returned a Labour MP for about 20 years or so until him, the previous MP was a local Jewish lad, who ended up blotting his copybook (an affair) and of course was no friend of the Evil, Anti-Semite Corbyn. This previous MP went independent for the 2019 election but didn't stand a chance. The Jews who used to vote Labour deserted in the their droves and even a mate who is a local Labour councillor abstained. So it was no surprise that Conservatives won.
However unless Labour go back to the Corbyn Left, there is no chance that Conservatives will win it again, especially with the current situation in the background.
The amusing thing about Wakeford is that he has been reported as supporting by-elections if an MP crosses the floor.... Let's see. I think he has made a huge mistake and by 2025 he will be a busted flush and out of national politics entrely.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Jan 20, 2022 22:32:32 GMT
I was wondering earlier if Wakeford is trying to make what he sees as a smart move across the house and just using the party-gate to switch to labour. This had been a Labour seat for a long time and come the next election likely to switch back to Labour. He's not likely to be replaced as the Labour candidate is he.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2022 22:38:14 GMT
Surely he can't have any credibility? What's to say he wouldn't switch back again? He has clearly shown that switching allegiances is no big deal for him so if I was a Labour voter I'd trust him about as far as I could throw him. And surely the Labour Party will realise that their voters may think that way? If I was them I'd go with their existing candidate who must surely be more attractive to the electorate than a recent Tory. And certainly the Tories won't want him back.
Does he think that the Labour voters will be so overcome with gratitude that they will want him instead of their own?
I assume that switching such a person to safe seat is both a recognition that he won't win his own seat again and a wish to keep him around to wave in the face of the opposition. Just about petty and short-sighted enough for a British political party.
I'd say he has swapped his political career, such as it was, for 15 minutes of fame.
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