Jan. 19 (UPI) — British lawmaker Christian Wakeford on Wednesday defected from the Conservative Party to the Labor Party, due entirely to what he said are significant failures in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership.
The rare defection came amid calls for Johnson’s resignation over multiple failures — but most notably those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including social parties in 2020 and 2021 at Johnson’s Downing Street office that occurred during a period of lockdown for British citizens.
“You and the Conservative Party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves,” Wakeford said in a letter to Johnson, according to Sky News.
Wakeford, who’s represented Bury South in British Parliament since 2019, said Britain needs “a government that upholds the highest standards of integrity and probity in public life.”
“I care passionately about the people of Bury South and I have concluded that the policies of the Conservative government led by Boris Johnson are doing nothing to help the people of the constituency and indeed are only making the struggles they face on a daily basis worse,” he added, according to the Bury Times.
Amid the scandal, several Conservative lawmakers have written a letter asking for a vote of no confidence for Johnson. A total of 54 letters are needed to prompt such a vote.