Christian Wakeford MP Joins Labour: Is There a Problem Here?
Football and politics share certain similarities; there are times as a football fan when you forgo any sense of reality to criticise the opposition - just tune into any phone-in radio show. Team sports encourage this type of tribalism, and unlike politics have nothing at stake to it.
Politics is a different animal. If tribalism amounts to blind acceptance, it calls into question the legitimacy of ones view and the motive of an argument. Many different tribes have taken different views over the course of the last week as to whether or not Conservative MP Christian Wakeford should have been allowed to cross the House of Commons floor and ‘defect’ to the Labour Party as it was categorised in the Mail.
The question at hand, however, is not whether or not the rules should allow it, as it has happened before. The issue is one of character, and one of a string of characters deemed acceptable to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. For instance, the once labelled ‘Prince of Darkness’ Lord Peter Mandelson is viewed to be worthy of an advisory position, despite well documented links to deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The character of Christian Wakeford MP is relevant only in how he has represented the interests of working people so far, and how many views we are expected to believe changed so quickly. The constituency of Bury South went blue in 2019 for the first time since 1992 – despite increasing their vote share 8% under Corbyn's leadership in 2017. like many other historic labour strongholds. During his time serving his constituency, the new labour MP voted against climate change measures, in favour of a stricter asylum system and against measures to reduce tax avoidance.
Should the Labour Party welcome Tory MP's who have campaigned against current party pledges?
— eSocialism (@e_socialism) January 28, 2022
Momentum, a left-wing Labour party faction, said: “He should be nowhere near the Labour Party, and the decision by Starmer to accept him is an insult to the millions of working people who want to see a fairer country.
“Christian Wakeford has voted with this hard-right Tory government almost 400 times in just two years – voting against measures to stop climate change and tax avoidance and against enabling domestic abuse victims to have access to benefits.
“Wakeford should be booted out of Labour and a by-election called immediately. Labour must back a candidate that will stand up for the people of Bury South and against this Tory government.”
The transition from Conservative to Labour should not be impossible. Former speaker of the house John Bercow has not found many targets on his back since switching sides, partly due to his contempt for Boris Johnson. Yet, Christian Wakeford's political history tells a different story, and to abandon the sinking ship as you're being made to walk the plank calls into question the legitimacy of his rapid change of views.