It’s been a month since Christian Wakeford defected to Labour but the former Tory publicly insists he is loving life in opposition. Despite appearing as happy as a hostage victim when he ‘crossed the floor,’ the Bury South MP claims the ‘quite nasty personal’ attacks on him from former colleague vindicate his decision to leave. With a majority of only 402, Wakeford just has to hope he’s taken a number of his Tory-voting constituents with him to line up in the Labour column by the time of the next election.
Not all though are convinced by Wakeford’s defection, coming as it did just a day after he sat through a four-hour dinner with Conservative MPs and didn’t reveal a word about his decision. And despite the loyalty of some of Wakeford’s parliamentary staffers – with one being forced to stand down as a Tory candidate after her boss’s defection – others appear to be less supportive. The Bury MP has quietly released adverts for not one but two staff this week, appealing for both a caseworker and a parliamentary researcher to come and work for him.
Wakeford only had four pass-holders listed on the register of staff at the time of his defection – of which two are, coincidentally, elected Tory councillors. It seems quite unusual to hire 50 per cent of an office in one go, suggesting that the departures were not exactly long-planned. Questions to Wakeford’s office this afternoon went unanswered, but it would appear that his decision to defect has prompted some of his staff to re-examine their future under him.
So much for Labour being the party of the workers – let’s hope they just get re-hired in due course…
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