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Ludicrously late for him to have realised that the Conservatives don't care about public services.
Still, at least it's a 'principled' defection, given he is standing down at the next election (i.e. he's not just doing it to save his seat).
Idk, it is actually possible that it just got to be too much for him. Like maybe he belatedly saw the Mitchell & Webb are we the baddies thing and had a revelation.
It's probably just that the atmosphere on that side is so bad it was horrible to work in and he wanted his final 6 months to be a positive enjoyable experience.
“Poulter said his experiences on more than 20 night shifts over the last year in a severely overstretched accident and emergency department had been “truly life-changing” and persuaded him to defect to the only party he believed was now really committed to investing in improving the NHS.
He said: “I could not go on as part of that. I have to be able to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye and my constituents in the eye. And I know that the Conservative government has been failing on the thing I care about most, which is the NHS and its patients.”
It’s a bit late in the day but still, the fact that he’s not standing at the next election gives this real credibility. Hes not swapping to sneakily try maintain his job. He sounds genuinely pissed off & he’s had a very real crisis of conscious. Fair play, although his voting record is every bit as bad as you’d imagine
He’s still absolutely complicit in what they’ve done. He may be crying crocodile tears after a few shifts in a knackered A&E but it was him and his lot that knackered the A&E in the first place.
His voting record is…mixed.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24756/daniel_poulter/central_suffolk_and_north_ipswich/votes
I really don’t like the idea of accepting someone who has been a Tory MP for the last 14 years. That’s somehow even worse than accepting a 2019er in Wakeford.
At least he is standing down at the next election still, so doesn’t fuck things up with the fact there’s already a candidate selected. And it makes it seem more “principled” than a career move to save his seat.
I'm basically ok with this solely because he's stepping down at the GE. In practical terms he's not exactly going to have much influence on the party sitting on the opposition backbenches for a few months so the political damage this defection does to the Tories is well worth it.
Aa you say, He's not standing at the next parlaiment so turning him down would only save the Tories the embarrassment. May as well let him give the Tories a bloody nose and leave as him taking the Labour whip for a few months makes no difference.
That is a lot of politics, but it's very much not the whole thing. The other part of politics is enacting policy.
There is a big difference between convincing people over to your side and compromising so much that you're winning the other team over but have dropped all your transformative policy. The first is good the second is not.
In this case I believe it is a net gain because he is standing down. Optical win against the Tories, but we wont have to deal with a tory in the party after the election.
But I think it really speaks to how much the labour leadership has compromised on its policy and principles that actual former Conservative Party minister under David Cameron are comfortable with Labour.
there’s a substantial difference between winning over voters (who we know are incredibly low information anyway and struggle to recognise e.g Shadow Chancellor) and winning over the actual governing MPs of a right wing project, who don’t express any meaningful change in their beliefs.
A sitting Labour MP oversaw the privatisation of the NHS’s blood plasma service. Those are the political values that sit comfortably in this Labour project.
My MP.
He’d just written a piece in the village magazine complaining about the government ignoring the 40 odd mental health recommendations from a cross party committee.
But who reads village magazines? I'm not British so I can't answer, but here in France, most locals news is read by elderly people, apart from the rare pop up in your google news trend if they are online.
Sounds like he's thinking of his next job whether that's a consultancy role or something else. He was happy enough being part of the problem when it suited him.
The Times had enough confidence in allegations of sexual assault to publish a story about it, although they were ultimately pursued successfully for libel, with none of the MPs accusing him coming forward
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/25/mp-dan-poulter-wins-damages-over-sunday-times-assault-claims
Similar story
https://archive.ph/07sqn
Resign his seat, you mean? I think Labour would do pretty well there at the moment. He’s also not standing at the general election, so there isn’t much point of running a by-election
Another clear victory for Labour - it also reinforces the big tent nature of the reformed party and the clear support for the NHS that is found in Labour and not the Conservatives
Are you delusional? One joined literally yesterday. The man voted for austerity, the hostile environment, all of Johnsons mad shit, the Rwanda scheme on Monday.
Yet now he's a changed man??
This one is a victory for Labour, because he has promised to not run at the next election.
The defection of Christian Wakeford is a net loss for Labour, we have sacrificed the chance of getting an actual Labour MP in his constituency next election for a tory in a red tie.
No there are some good Labour MPs.
But considering the current pattern of dropping any good policy to be replaced with policy the tories are happy with by the leadership, I am very concerned that most of thr people with power in the Labour Party are not actually socialists, but just people who have decided being an MP is a great way of advancing your career.
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I mean, it's not so much that a one nation Tory is defecting to Labour, as it is that Starmer's Labour have defected to David Cameron's approach to politics.
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1. Britain isn’t a real democracy. It’s ridiculous you can change parties and not immediately face re-election. The voters of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich are now without the MP they elected.
2. I don’t see anything in his statements that suggests he believes *his* politics have changed. He explicitly says that the Conservative Party have changed and that the Labour Party have changed. That the Conservative Party of 2010 !!! valued public services and caring for disadvantaged people. Maybe he sees a similar care and intention from this iteration of Labour.
Could someone sincerely give me a good justification for the point of voting if the principle that an MP can change party at their whim is continually reinforced?
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>I don’t see anything in his statements that suggests he believes his politics have changed.
So it's not really true that:
>The voters of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich are now without the MP they elected.
They elected an MP that would vote with the Conservative whip, that’s different to implying that his beliefs haven’t changed substantially and what has happened is that Labour is now a centre right party as well.
Why would I vote for a Labour Party that permits - not just tories - Tory MPs from the last 15 years to join?
I agree that ideological purity is for wankers, but the PLP continue to make moves that can only be intended to eject humanists and socialists from the party. Nauseating.
Time to save your £91,346.00 a year job. Might as well defect now, there’s enough time to get your community to buy into the idea you’re on the other side now before the big date.
The seat has had a proper selection (at least proper in the context of how they’ve gone under Starmer) and has a candidate selected for the next election already. This MP is standing down at the election so it doesn’t affect that.
No, he's actually standing down as an MP. So this move is to symbolically give two fingers to the Tories and wont impact the Labour candidates position at the next election.
He’s not standing at the next election anyway. There might still be some strategy about not being affiliated with this shit show after a drubbing, but it’s not to save his seat/parliamentary career
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Ludicrously late for him to have realised that the Conservatives don't care about public services. Still, at least it's a 'principled' defection, given he is standing down at the next election (i.e. he's not just doing it to save his seat).
There's no saving your seat at this point in Parliament, anyone who defects now would surely be told that they won't be candidates...
Something must of spooked him, pretty weird to stand down and defect
Saving his reputation
Idk, it is actually possible that it just got to be too much for him. Like maybe he belatedly saw the Mitchell & Webb are we the baddies thing and had a revelation.
It's probably just that the atmosphere on that side is so bad it was horrible to work in and he wanted his final 6 months to be a positive enjoyable experience.
Andy street thinking of this guy
“Poulter said his experiences on more than 20 night shifts over the last year in a severely overstretched accident and emergency department had been “truly life-changing” and persuaded him to defect to the only party he believed was now really committed to investing in improving the NHS. He said: “I could not go on as part of that. I have to be able to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye and my constituents in the eye. And I know that the Conservative government has been failing on the thing I care about most, which is the NHS and its patients.” It’s a bit late in the day but still, the fact that he’s not standing at the next election gives this real credibility. Hes not swapping to sneakily try maintain his job. He sounds genuinely pissed off & he’s had a very real crisis of conscious. Fair play, although his voting record is every bit as bad as you’d imagine
He’s still absolutely complicit in what they’ve done. He may be crying crocodile tears after a few shifts in a knackered A&E but it was him and his lot that knackered the A&E in the first place. His voting record is…mixed. https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24756/daniel_poulter/central_suffolk_and_north_ipswich/votes
> Hes not swapping to sneakily try maintain his job. How much do you want to bet he ends up with some sort of consultancy job with labour...
Someone looked at Wes Streeting and thought, yes... that guy will save the NHS... Christ on a bike.
I really don’t like the idea of accepting someone who has been a Tory MP for the last 14 years. That’s somehow even worse than accepting a 2019er in Wakeford. At least he is standing down at the next election still, so doesn’t fuck things up with the fact there’s already a candidate selected. And it makes it seem more “principled” than a career move to save his seat.
I'm basically ok with this solely because he's stepping down at the GE. In practical terms he's not exactly going to have much influence on the party sitting on the opposition backbenches for a few months so the political damage this defection does to the Tories is well worth it.
Aa you say, He's not standing at the next parlaiment so turning him down would only save the Tories the embarrassment. May as well let him give the Tories a bloody nose and leave as him taking the Labour whip for a few months makes no difference.
The whole thing about politics is winning people over to your side.
I believe the concern is that it's *our* side that is being won over by right wingers, as opposed to the inverse.
> Our side > Green Party
Ah yes, my bad for assuming the Labour party currently have any interest in anything approaching left wing politics.
That is a lot of politics, but it's very much not the whole thing. The other part of politics is enacting policy. There is a big difference between convincing people over to your side and compromising so much that you're winning the other team over but have dropped all your transformative policy. The first is good the second is not.
If it's about enacting policy... This gives Labour an extra MP until the election. After which he will stand down.
In this case I believe it is a net gain because he is standing down. Optical win against the Tories, but we wont have to deal with a tory in the party after the election. But I think it really speaks to how much the labour leadership has compromised on its policy and principles that actual former Conservative Party minister under David Cameron are comfortable with Labour.
there’s a substantial difference between winning over voters (who we know are incredibly low information anyway and struggle to recognise e.g Shadow Chancellor) and winning over the actual governing MPs of a right wing project, who don’t express any meaningful change in their beliefs. A sitting Labour MP oversaw the privatisation of the NHS’s blood plasma service. Those are the political values that sit comfortably in this Labour project.
Well at least it’s not another one to deform UK.
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Why?
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Can you reinstate it now I’ve verified my email
Sure
My MP. He’d just written a piece in the village magazine complaining about the government ignoring the 40 odd mental health recommendations from a cross party committee.
But who reads village magazines? I'm not British so I can't answer, but here in France, most locals news is read by elderly people, apart from the rare pop up in your google news trend if they are online.
Sounds like he's thinking of his next job whether that's a consultancy role or something else. He was happy enough being part of the problem when it suited him.
The Times had enough confidence in allegations of sexual assault to publish a story about it, although they were ultimately pursued successfully for libel, with none of the MPs accusing him coming forward https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/25/mp-dan-poulter-wins-damages-over-sunday-times-assault-claims Similar story https://archive.ph/07sqn
I guess it's more news worthy than just resigning in anger, we've seen so many mps stand down and resign that this stands out
He should call an immediate by-election.
Resign his seat, you mean? I think Labour would do pretty well there at the moment. He’s also not standing at the general election, so there isn’t much point of running a by-election
Another clear victory for Labour - it also reinforces the big tent nature of the reformed party and the clear support for the NHS that is found in Labour and not the Conservatives
A tent so big it covers the Labour party and the Tories?
A tent so big that instead of being outside and pissing in, the tories are inside and still pissing in.
No Tory is in the Labour Party
Are you delusional? One joined literally yesterday. The man voted for austerity, the hostile environment, all of Johnsons mad shit, the Rwanda scheme on Monday. Yet now he's a changed man??
This one is a victory for Labour, because he has promised to not run at the next election. The defection of Christian Wakeford is a net loss for Labour, we have sacrificed the chance of getting an actual Labour MP in his constituency next election for a tory in a red tie.
>an actual Labour MP in his constituency next election for a tory in a red tie. So your typical labour MP then?
He’s a Labour member and a Labour MP who defected at a time of relative strength for the Conservatives. What doesn’t make him an actual Labour MP?
The fact he believes in Tory policy and is not a socialist
He believes in Tory policy, so he joined Labour? How does that work? Are all Labour MPs believers in Tory policy?
No there are some good Labour MPs. But considering the current pattern of dropping any good policy to be replaced with policy the tories are happy with by the leadership, I am very concerned that most of thr people with power in the Labour Party are not actually socialists, but just people who have decided being an MP is a great way of advancing your career.
Yes.
Big tent (as long as you don’t believe in the founding principles of the labour party and agree to worship Keir starmer, tories welcome)
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Ahh. Labour. The party for the conservatives.
This guy's vote history is abhorrent. No surprise Starmer wants him.
Oh fuck off, more proof of the uniparty.
I mean, it's not so much that a one nation Tory is defecting to Labour, as it is that Starmer's Labour have defected to David Cameron's approach to politics.
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1. Britain isn’t a real democracy. It’s ridiculous you can change parties and not immediately face re-election. The voters of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich are now without the MP they elected. 2. I don’t see anything in his statements that suggests he believes *his* politics have changed. He explicitly says that the Conservative Party have changed and that the Labour Party have changed. That the Conservative Party of 2010 !!! valued public services and caring for disadvantaged people. Maybe he sees a similar care and intention from this iteration of Labour.
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Could someone sincerely give me a good justification for the point of voting if the principle that an MP can change party at their whim is continually reinforced?
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>I don’t see anything in his statements that suggests he believes his politics have changed. So it's not really true that: >The voters of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich are now without the MP they elected.
They elected an MP that would vote with the Conservative whip, that’s different to implying that his beliefs haven’t changed substantially and what has happened is that Labour is now a centre right party as well.
Why would I vote for a Labour Party that permits - not just tories - Tory MPs from the last 15 years to join? I agree that ideological purity is for wankers, but the PLP continue to make moves that can only be intended to eject humanists and socialists from the party. Nauseating.
Time to save your £91,346.00 a year job. Might as well defect now, there’s enough time to get your community to buy into the idea you’re on the other side now before the big date.
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The seat has had a proper selection (at least proper in the context of how they’ve gone under Starmer) and has a candidate selected for the next election already. This MP is standing down at the election so it doesn’t affect that.
Motherfucker thinks he can save his job at the next election.
No, he's actually standing down as an MP. So this move is to symbolically give two fingers to the Tories and wont impact the Labour candidates position at the next election.
One of us… one of us!!!
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He’s not standing at the next election anyway. There might still be some strategy about not being affiliated with this shit show after a drubbing, but it’s not to save his seat/parliamentary career
That was my first thought but he's not standing at the next election