Who is Dan Poulter: The Tory MP defecting to Labour in fury at NHS crisis

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Dr Dan Poulter has defected to the Labour Party, claiming the Conservatives have become a “nationalist party of the right”.

The Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP will sit on the Labour benches until the next general election, expected this autumn, when he has announced he will step down.

Mr Poulter said he made the decision in part because of Sir Keir Starmer’s promised NHS reforms, accusing the Tories of not “understanding” the health service.

“One of the things I really like about Labour Party policy on the NHS is the focus on the social determinants of poor health and actually recognising that tackling poverty, poor housing, all those issues, particularly giving children from poorer backgrounds better chances and focusing on child health,” he told The Observer.

“That is something Labour understands that the Conservatives really don’t,” he added.

But critics pointed to Mr Poulter’s record as a Conservative MP for the past 14 years, a time when the NHS has been placed under huge pressure.

Below, The Independent looks at Mr Poulter’s career as an MP and why he has defected to the Labour Party.

Who is he?

Mr Poulter is a 45-year-old former Tory councillor who also worked as a doctor at King’s College hospital in London.

He was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for Central Suffolk for the 2010 election, when he won more than 50 per cent of the vote.

He said he was inspired to enter politics in 2006 after meeting David Cameron and hearing him talk about fixing “broken Britain” and supporting “the victims of state failure”.

But the ex-health minister has previously criticised the Conservatives, accusing the party under Lord Cameron in 2016 of prioritising “middle class tax cuts” over helping “the working poor, and the socially disadvantaged”.

He was a minister in the department of health from 2012 to 2015 and currently works part-time as a mental health doctor in an NHS hospital.

In 2011, Mr Poulter assessed his Tory MP colleague Guy Opperman after he collapsed in parliament’s Central Lobby, spotting symptoms that could have pointed to a potentially fatal brain problem

He immediately ordered the MP be taken to hospital, where medics found a brain tumour needing emergency surgery.

Why has he defected?

Mr Poulter is not standing at the next general election, so suggestions he has joined the Labour Party to save his seat amid what polls suggest will be a Tory wipeout are wide of the mark.

He has said he wants a position after the election advising Labour on its mental health policies while focusing more on his NHS work.

Announcing his defection, he said working in the NHS had persuaded him that Labour is the only party who could be trusted to invest in the future of the NHS.

He told The Observer: “I could not go on as part of that. I have to be able to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye and my constituents in the eye. And I know that the Conservative government has been failing on the thing I care about most, which is the NHS and its patients.”

Discussions have reportedly been ongoing for months at the top of the Labour Party about the defection.

What does Labour think?

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer celebrated the move, posting a letter welcoming Mr Poulter on social media

He said: “It’s fantastic to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to today’s changed Labour party.

“It’s time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain’s future back. I’m really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey.”

Figures on the left of the Labour Party will likely feel uneasy having a Conservative join their ranks, however, especially at a time when long-serving Labour MP Diane Abbott remains suspended.

Left-wing campaign group Momentum said: “Dan Poulter spent fourteen years voting through and enacting Tory austerity and privatisation. If he’s right to say the Tories have broken the NHS and our public services, he fails to mention he helped break them.

“Sadly, it speaks volumes about Starmer’s Labour that an active opponent of working-class interests feels comfortable joining the party. With so little between the two main parties, it’s no wonder voters feel unrepresented.”

The defection, the first since Christian Wakeford crossed the aisle in 2022, means the Conservatives’ majority has nearly halved since the 2019 general election. Then it stood at 80, now it has fallen to 41.

Mr Poulter’s defection is still facing teething problems however. His website, www.drdanielpoulter.com, still automatically redirects to the Conservative Party’s homepage.