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Former Tory MP Heidi Allen joins Liberal Democrats Former Tory MP Heidi Allen joins Liberal Democrats
(32 minutes later)
The former Conservative MP Heidi Allen has joined the Liberal Democrats, the party has said. The former Conservative MP Heidi Allen, who left her party to join the breakaway Independent Group, has become the seventh MP this year to defect to the Liberal Democrats.
The South Cambridgeshire MP, who has been sitting as an independent since quitting the Change UK party – now called the Independent Group for Change – in June, takes the Lib Dem’s tally in the Commons to 19. The Lib Dems have unveiled a series of new recruits in recent months, with the arrivals of ex-Tories Sarah Wollaston, Sam Gyimah and Phillip Lee, as well as former Labour MPs Chuka Umunna, Angela Smith and Luciana Berger.
Her move follows the recent arrivals of ex-Tories Sarah Wollaston, Sam Gyimah and Phillip Lee as well as former Labour MPs Chuka Umunna, Angela Smith and Luciana Berger. Allen said she had been cooperating with the Lib Dems in building a “remain alliance”, and now believed it was the right time to join the party.
Allen, a committed remainer, said she was joining the Lib Dems as the other main parties had turned their backs on the “liberal progressive centre ground”. “Shifting to the extremes, the Conservatives and Labour have turned their backs on the liberal, progressive centre ground our country is crying out for,” she said.
“Now is the time to stand shoulder to shoulder with, not just alongside, those I have collaborated and found shared values with,” she said. “As we face the monumental task ahead of stopping a damaging Brexit, healing the rifts in society and rebuilding the UK, there is only one party with the honesty, energy and vision to do that – and that is the Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Jo Swinson.”
“Shifting to the extremes, the Conservatives and Labour have turned their backs on the liberal, progressive centre ground our country is crying out for. Unlike Umunna and Berger, who have announced plans to move to new seats at a general election, Allen intends to contest her South Cambridgeshire constituency as a Lib Dem.
“As we face the monumental task ahead of stopping a damaging Brexit, healing the rifts in society and rebuilding the UK, there is only one party with the honesty, energy and vision to do that – and that is the Liberal Democrats.” She was one of the three Conservatives, together with Sarah Wollaston and Anna Soubry, who joined what was then called the Independent Group, after it was launched in February by a group of former Labour MPs.
Allen’s move was warmly welcomed by the Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson. “She has long been an ally in the fight to stop Brexit, and having worked with her I know the energy and passion she will bring to our party,” she said. At the time, they called themselves the “three amigos”; but the fledgling party, which launched with hopes of sparking a radical realignment in British politics, was beset by differences over strategy, and a disastrous performance in the European elections.
“This once again proves that the Liberal Democrats are the strongest party of remain.” Despite recruiting high-profile candidates, including Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel, the re-named Change UK polled just 3% and failed to return any MEPs.
Allen was the party’s interim leader – but then quit in June, along with five other members, including party spokesman Umunna.
Luciana Berger, Ann Coffey, Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith and Chuka Umunna quit the Labour party. Almost immediately Smith is heavily criticised for referring to people from minority backgrounds as having a 'funny tinge' - for which she later apologises.
Three Conservative MPs leave their party to join the group: Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, and Anna Soubry. Joan Ryan, ex-Labour, had joined the group the day before.
After renaming itself Change UK, the party gets into a row with petition site Change.org, who release a statement warning it will be 'seeking guidance' over the 'imitation' of its brand.
Two election candidates are forced to resign within 24 hours of each other after offensive tweets emerge, including Joseph Russo, the party's top Scotland candidate, writing 'black women scare me'.
MP Joan Ryan bizarrely implores the audience at the party's Bath rally to look at their palms: 'It's there, the future is in your hands'. The day before the party's lead Scottish candidate felt the future lay elsewhere - defecting to the Lib Dems a week before European elections.
Party leader Heidi Allen suggests Change UK may not exist at general election. 'Will I stand again [...] as Change UK, in whatever format? Let's hope, depends when next general election comes,' she says
In the week before the European parliamentary elections it emerges that Change UK spent £87,000 on Facebook adverts, becoming the biggest single political advertiser on Facebook - including spending at least £1,300 promoting Facebook adverts mistakenly saying it was campaigning to 'remain in the UK'. The party ends up winning 3.4% of the vote at the election, securing no MEPs.
Six of Change UK’s 11 MPs, including its spokesman Chuka Umunna and interim leader Heidi Allen, abandon the fledgling party. Former Conservative business minister and anti-Brexit campaigner Anna Soubry becomes leader.
Party announces it would be renamed for third time after legal threat from Change.org, and has applied to the Electoral Commission to be known as the Independent Group for Change.
Chuka Umunna says there is no room for two centre-ground parties in British politics after he joins the Liberal Democrats 10 days after abandoning Change UK.
Four of the original breakaways, Heidi Allen, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith form a new group, the Independents. Joining them is former Labour MP John Woodcock.
Not to be confused with either independent MPs or the Independent Group for Change, they say they are not forming a party, but are 'a co-operative of independent politicians working with you to find new ways forward in politics'.
Sarah Wollaston joins the Liberal Democrats.
Luciana Berger joins the Liberal Democrats.
Angela Smith joins the Liberal Democrats.
Heidi Allen joins the Liberal Democrats.
In total, Swinson’s Lib Dems now have 19 MPs, and hope to make gains at a forthcoming general election with their clear anti-Brexit policy. The party leader has said that if the party won a majority they would revoke article 50, effectively cancelling Brexit.
She welcomed Allen’s move, saying: “She has long been an ally in the fight to stop Brexit, and having worked with her I know the energy and passion she will bring to our party. This once again proves that the Liberal Democrats are the strongest party of remain.”
Change UK, which has been renamed again and is now called the Independent Group for Change, is led by the former Conservative MP Anna Soubry and now has just five MPs.
Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrats
Heidi AllenHeidi Allen
Independent Group for Change
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