Mark Logan, the (newly) former Conservative MP for Bolton North East, has announced he will now be backing Labour at the next election. Logan told the BBC that Keir Starmer’s party had been on a “journey” and offered “centrist politics” that could “bring optimism into British life”.
According to Logan, “it’s right that we get some stability back into the UK” alongside “optimism” and “new and fresh ideas”. For Logan, it’s “more about not the push factor of the Conservatives but the pull factor of Keir Starmer, the new cabinet that would come in, the fresh faces, the fresh ideas”.
Since Labour has already selected its candidate for Bolton North East, what might explain Logan’s defection – in the recent spirit of Christian Wakeford, Dan Poulter, and Natalie Elphicke? Logan had a majority of 378 in 2019. Electoral Calculus currently gives a 93 per cent of the seat going to Labour.
As The Spectator points out, Logan had previously quit as a ministerial aide over Boris Johnson’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, and has disagreed with his party’s line on a ceasefire in Gaza. There also reports that he had unsuccessfully lobbied Number 10 for a peerage.
