The defections of the MPs Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston has prompted reactions ranging from disappointment to surprise among local Conservative members.
Soubry was known to have been unhappy for a while. Uncharacteristically, she had been incommunicado in the 24 hours preceding Wednesday’s announcement she was quitting the Conservative party. Though speculation had been rife she could be tempted towards the Independent Group, no one locally in her Nottinghamshire Broxtowe constituency apparently knew for certain until her press release dropped.
Bland, similarly-worded statements, dispatched from Conservative HQ, were issued by the three MPs’ local party associations, thanking them for their hard work over the years, and stressing the priority was to select Conservative prospective parliamentary candidates.
Fellow Nottinghamshire MP Robert Jenrick tweeted that Soubry was “decent, patriotic & brave” but warned: “Brexit aside, we share the same Conservative values of aspiration, enterprise, security. She knows the disaster a Corbyn government would be. I hope she doesn’t make one more likely.”
In Allen’s South Cambridgeshire constituency, where a majority voted remain in the EU referendum, the overwhelming feeling was of disappointment. Peter Topping, the leader of the Conservatives on the district council, said: “ I think it would have been better for her to stay in the Conservative party and argue the case for a moderate Brexit, rather than leave.”
His phone had been ringing constantly since the news broke, with fellow Conservatives expressing the same view, he said. “I know this hasn’t been an easy decision for Heidi, and she has worked hard for the constituency.” He had read her resignation letter to the prime minister, he said, and though other people would have different views, he had always found the Conservative party to “be a pretty broad church”.
“And it’s important for moderate voices to be in there, arguing for moderation when it is as tough as it is at the moment,” he said.
The Conservatives relinquished control of the council to the Liberal Democrats a year ago and Topping believed a significant factor was a backlash against the Brexit poll result. It was too early to say if Allen’s resignation would affect the party’s standing locally, he said. “Obviously, the local Conservative association will now start the process of selecting a Conservative candidate.”
His fellow Tory councillor Mark Howell said he was “disappointed” in Allen’s decision, and described her as “an exceptionally hard-working brilliant constituency MP, and nothing can take away from that”.
“There was speculation, but I think we were still taken aback today,” he said. “Conservative or not, she will still be an excellent constituency MP, so, in that respect, it won’t affect the constituents at all. And I think Heidi has done this, she believes, for her constituents. Though I have not spoken to her about it, that is the way I would see it.”
In Devon, where Wollaston has held the Totnes seat since 2010, her announcement was met with sadness. The Conservative MEP for the south-west of England and Gibraltar, Ashley Fox, said many activists had worked hard to get her elected and would feel let-down by her defection.
He added: “I don’t bear her any malice, she has made a decision in good conscience, [but] I disagree with her.
“As a matter of principle when someone changes party, they should stand down and cause a byelection.
“I think the people of Totnes would want that, but of course there is no mechanism to enforce that, so I don’t expect any of the MPs who have joined the Independent Group to do that.”
