Chris Philp to be quizzed over defection to Labour on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

7 months ago 39
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Live Reporting

Edited by Jack Burgess

All times stated are UK

  1. Who’s on today's panel?

    Baroness Chakrabarti

    Copyright: BBC

    Labour peer and human rights lawyer Baroness Chakrabarti is on the panel this week.

    There will also be two MPs - the SNP’s Ian Blackford and the Conservatives' ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick.

    Jenrick resigned as immigration minister in December last year in protest against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

    He said at the time that the policy did not “go far enough".

    Baroness Chakrabarti is a member of the House of Lords and a member of the Labour Party.

    She previously served as shadow attorney general from 2016 to 2020 and as director of advocacy group Liberty.

    Blackford has represented Ross, Skye and Lochaber in the House of Commons for the SNP since 2015, but announced last year that he would not stand at the next election.

    He is a former banker and has previously served as SNP Westminster leader, but stood down from the role in December 2022.

  2. Tory MP Dan Poulter defects to Labour

    Video content

    Video caption: Ex-Tory MP Daniel Poulter defects to Labour over NHS

    In an exclusive interview yesterday, Tory MP and former minister Dan Poulter told Laura Kuenssberg he was concerned about the state of the NHS, where he works part time as a doctor, and other public services under the Conservatives.

    He was, he said, joining the Labour party.

    "I found it increasingly difficult to look my NHS colleagues in the eye, my patients in the eye, and my constituents in the eye with good conscience," he said.

    Poulter has represented the Central Suffolk and North Ipswich constituency since 2010 and served as a health minister from 2012 to 2015.

    He said that when he was first elected, the Conservative Party had a “compassionate view about supporting the more disadvantaged in society” but that it is now “in a very different place".

    Poulter also said he did not intend to stand again at the next general election.

    Read more on this story here.

  3. Hello and welcome

    Jack Burgess

    Live reporter

    Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of today’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Thanks for joining us.

    Our main story today - revealed in an exclusive interview with the programme yesterday - is that former minister and Conservative MP Dan Poulter has defected to Labour.

    You can watch that interview in full today, and we’ll be bringing you reaction as we get it.

    Also on the programme today is Home Office minister Chris Philp MP, shadow Health secretary Wes Streeting MP, former speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey.

    Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, fellow MP and former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, and Baroness Chakrabarti are all on the panel.

    Stay with us as we bring you updates.

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