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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Conservative MP defects to Labour | Conservative MP defects to Labour |
| (19 minutes later) | |
| Conservative MP Quentin Davies has defected to the Labour Party. | |
| The MP for Grantham and Stamford made his decision public in a letter to Conservative leader David Cameron. | The MP for Grantham and Stamford made his decision public in a letter to Conservative leader David Cameron. |
| He wrote that under Mr Cameron the party "appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything". | He wrote that under Mr Cameron the party "appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything". |
| Shadow chancellor George Osborne said in 2005 that "I actually disagree with almost everything Quentin Davies has ever said". | |
| The defection comes the day before Gordon Brown takes over as prime minister from Tony Blair. | The defection comes the day before Gordon Brown takes over as prime minister from Tony Blair. |
| 'No bedrock' | 'No bedrock' |
| Mr Davies, a pro-European, voted for former chancellor Ken Clarke in the Tory leadership contest which Mr Cameron won in 2005. | Mr Davies, a pro-European, voted for former chancellor Ken Clarke in the Tory leadership contest which Mr Cameron won in 2005. |
| In his letter, he wrote: "Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. | |
| Although you have many positive qualities you have three, superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions, which in my view ought to exclude you from the position of national leadership Quentin Davies to David Cameron | |
| "It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda." | "It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda." |
| Mr Davies added: "Believe it or not I have no personal animus against you. | |
| "You have always been perfectly courteous in our dealings. You are intelligent and charming. | |
| "As you know, however, I never supported you for the leadership of the party - even when, after my preferred candidate Ken Clarke had been defeated in the first round, it was blindingly obvious that you were going to win." | |
| 'Towering record' | |
| He also wrote: "Although you have many positive qualities you have three, superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions, which in my view ought to exclude you from the position of national leadership to which you aspire and which it is the presumed purpose of the Conservative Party to achieve. | |
| "Believing that as I do, I clearly cannot honestly remain in the party. I do not intend to leave public life." | |
| Mr Davies said he had "found increasingly I am naturally in agreement" with the Labour Party and praised Mr Brown as "a leader I have always greatly admired, who I believe is entirely straightforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share". | |
| Last year, Mr Davies called Mr Cameron's decision to vote for an immediate inquiry into the Iraq war "absolutely crazy". | |
| The 63-year-old is a former diplomat and has been shadow Northern Ireland secretary and shadow defence secretary. He became an MP in 1987. |