Three Labour MPs are reportedly considering defecting to the Conservatives after becoming increasingly disillusioned with Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
The unnamed trio are said to have opened ‘lines of communication’ with Tory whips ahead of what could be a remarkable move not seen since the 1970s.
They decided to contact Conservative representatives during their current party’s conference in Brighton this week, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
The paper claims the MPs are ‘in despair’ at Sir Keir’s failure to improve the party’s polling and at his deputy Angela Rayner’s comments branding senior Tories ‘scum’.
But defecting to the Government would be a bold move and be the first time any Labour MP has crossed the floor to their rivals since Reg Prentice in 1977.
The rumours emerged ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.
It comes despite Sir Keir being widely perceived to have moved the party to the right – particularly after an internal party rule change made it far harder for a left leaning MP to follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Corbyn and become party leader.
That means that in future contests, potential candidates must be nominated by 20 per cent of the parliamentary party, currently around 40 MPs, to make the ballot paper – a tough task for those on the left of the party.
Sir Keir is said to have considered the conference a success – yet despite that and a series of major crises in the UK, surveys show his party still lagging some way behind the Tories.
A recent poll by Opinium put Labour on 35%, down 2%, with the Conservatives on 39%, down 1%.
In 2019, eight Labour MPs defected to the centrist Change UK party, before they all lost their seats at the last general election, when Labour was battered by the Tories.
Last week saw shadow cabinet minister Andy McDonald quit his post, accusing Sir Keir of dividing the party and asking him to argue against a £15 minimum wage, which the Labour leader had previously backed.
Elsewhere, left leaning MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle said: ‘It has been a goddamn awful conference with a goddamn awful leadership.
‘The problem is he (Sir Keir) might a very nice man, but he is not a politician for the Labour Party.’
It comes after Sir Keir appeared to row back on a number of key pledges which he made during the leadership election and seen as an attempt to woo the left leaning membership.
Allies have suggested that he is now attempting to win over the general public, seen as less left wing, with a more moderate tone.
Neither the Conservative or Labour parties have responded to requests for comment from Metro.co.uk.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham denied having leadership ambitions on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning, and said Sir Keir was doing a good job.
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