Top Tory MP defects to Labor in anger over NHS crisis
A Tory MP and former health secretary has dramatically defected to Labour, saying the Conservatives have become a “nationalist party of the right” that has given up on compassion and no longer prioritises the NHS.
Dr. Dan Poulter, the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, who works part-time as a mental health doctor in an NHS hospital, announced he was standing down as a Tory MP and would take up the Labor whip until the next election in an exclusive interview with the Observer.
He said he would not stand for re-election to the House of Commons at the next general election. But writing in the Observer, he says he envisions a role in advising the Labor Party on its mental health policy, while focusing more on his NHS work.
Poulter said his experiences working more than 20 night shifts in a severely overloaded emergency department last year had been “truly life-changing” and convinced him to defect to the only party he believed would now really invest in improving the situation. NHS.
He said: “I couldn’t go on with that any longer. I need to be able to look my NHS colleagues in the eyes, my patients in the eyes and my constituents in the eyes. And I know the Conservative government has failed on what I care about most, which is the NHS and its patients.”
The Observer understands that discussions have been going on for months at the highest level between Poulter and senior Labor figures about the timing and organization of his likely defection, and about the advisory roles he could play in the future in developing the party’s health policy , with the benefit of his first-hand insider knowledge.
However, the defection was kept under the strictest secrecy, with only half a dozen people in the party knowing it would take place before the election. Observer broke the news.
Poulter, a One Nation Tory on the left of the party, has regularly made clear his concerns about the direction of government policy since David Cameron’s premiership, and it is clear he has become frustrated by the lack of interest from the subsequent Tory Prime Ministers for his views. on reforming the NHS.
The shockwave – the first from a Tory MP to Labor since Christian Wakeford took the floor in 2022 – is another blow to Rishi Sunak ahead of Thursday’s council and mayoral elections, in which the Tory Party is expected to win up to half of its will lose seats. remaining local government seats.
Heavy losses and the inability to retain key mayors such as the West Midlands and Tees Valley are likely to reopen speculation about a possible challenge to the Prime Minister’s leadership in the run-up to the election.
In the run-up to the next general election, the future of the NHS will be a crucial battleground, and Labor is known to be keen to make the most of Poulter’s inside knowledge.
Poulter was first elected to Parliament in 2010 and served as Health Secretary under Cameron from 2012 to 2015.
Since then, he says, he has seen a progressive “rightward shift” in the party’s policies and thinking, which has made him increasingly uncomfortable.
He described Liz Truss’s brief and disastrous premiership as a “crushing moment” for moderates in the party like him, and for middle-of-the-road voters. “It’s very hard to forget that,” he said, adding that his voters had become immediately poorer as a result of Truss’ mistakes on the economy.
“The values of the Conservative Party have changed over the last eight years,” he said. “The values of the Conservative party under David Cameron were different values and the priorities were very different. David Cameron undoubtedly had a very strong commitment to the NHS.
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“Since he ceased to be Prime Minister eight years ago, healthcare has ceased to be a priority area for the Conservative Party, and this is now reflected in the pressure on the frontline and the deterioration of care for patients.”
He added: “I feel that the Tory Party has evolved from a pragmatic, centrist, centre-right party that focused on and understood the importance of the public service and the state to achieve certain things… problems. It has moved away from that and feels as if it has become a nationalist right-wing party, much more like what we see in Europe.
“It doesn’t mean all (Tory) MPs are like that. There are good MPs, but she feels that the party is increasingly moving to the right and advocating a more nationalist position rather than one that actually focuses on what many people want to see, which is a level of compassion from the government, but also – running public services.”
Poulter said he wished Sunak the best of luck in a very difficult task and that the Prime Minister had always been very polite to him.
But he praised Keir Starmer for transforming the Labor Party since 2019 and for his clear commitment to public service ideals. In the case of the NHS, he said, the party’s focus on preventive care, children’s health and the social causes of ill health was crucial.
“One of the things I really like about the Labor Party’s policy on the NHS is the focus on the social determinants of poor health and actually recognizing that tackling poverty, poor housing and all those issues , especially giving better opportunities to children from poorer backgrounds and focusing on children’s health,” he said. “That’s something Labor understands that the Conservatives really don’t – and that, to me, is something that makes the Labor Party a party that can be trusted to deliver the reforms needed to get the NHS back on its feet to get.”