Labour youth reject Tory defector

Labour have made much of Christian Wakeford’s defection today. The party is keen to show it has moved on from the Corbyn era, with some pointing to Wakeford’s staunch support of the Jewish community in Bury as proof that Starmer has successfully detoxified Labour’s brand. It’s the first direct Tory defection to Labour in 15 years and gave Starmer another stick with which to beat Johnson at a gag-filled PMQs.

Yet not all in Labour are so keen to welcome the Conservative MP into the fold. For the party’s youth wing has greeted the news by vehemently attacking Wakeford and rejecting him as a Labour representative. Young Labour, the last Corbynista holdout in Starmer’s brave new world, has tweeted that Wakeford ‘should not be admitted to the Labour party’ as ‘he has consistently voted against the interests of working-class people; for the £20 Universal Credit cut, for the Nationality and Borders Bill and for the Police and Crime Bill.’