Blow for Conservatives as former Tory MP defects to Labour ahead of General Election

Former Conservative MP Mark Logan has said he is backing Labour at the next general election on July 4.

He said his application to join Labour was "going in today".

Mr Logan, who represented Bolton North East for the Tories until Parliament dissolved on Thursday, said Labour had been on a "journey" and now offered "centrist politics".

He added that the Tory Party was now "unrecognisable" from the party he joined a decade ago.

Mr Logan won his seat with a majority of just 378 in 2019, making it one of the most marginal in the country.

The former MP, who supported Brexit, resigned from the Tory party with immediate effect and said he will not be contesting his constituency in the upcoming general election.

Labour is already fielding a candidate in his area.

But when asked if he could run for Labour in the future, he said: "I wouldn't rule out coming back into public life."

Explaining his decision to support Sir Keir Starmer's party, he said: "The time has come to bring back optimism into British public life."

He compared the mood of the country to New Labour's 1997 election campaign, which had Things Can Only Get Better as its official anthem, and was followed by a landslide victory for the party.

"When I look back to my teenage years, in 1997 when Labour came to the fore at that time and we obviously heard the song Things Can Only Get Better, I feel that we're at that point again in British politics and British history," he said.

Mr Logan added: "For my constituents and for the country, it's right that we get some stability back into the UK, we get optimism, we get new and fresh ideas."

This is the latest in a string of defections from the Tory Party to Labour.

Former MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke defected from the Conservatives to Labour and will not be standing at the election.

Dan Poulter also quit as a Tory MP for the Opposition party in April following bruising local election results for the ruling party.

Mr Logan said he had been considering backing Labour "for quite a long period" but felt the point he stood down as an MP was the right time to announce his support for the party "because the electorate did vote me in as a Conservative MP".

In February Mr Logan broke ranks from his own party to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, saying Israel had "gone too far".

Around the same time, Labour also shifted its position to back an immediate humanitarian ceasefire amid pressure within the party.

Sir Keir welcomed Mr Logan’s decision to back Labour in the general election.

The Labour leader said: “Voters across the country are looking to Labour for change. I am pleased Mark Logan has taken the decision to vote for Labour at this upcoming General Election.

“After 14 years of Tory failure, voters are returning to Labour because they can see that we are a changed party and back in service of working people. It’s time to stop the chaos, turn the page and rebuild Britain.”