LONDON - Conservative MP Dan Poulter has defected to the Labour Party, opposition leader Keir Starmer confirmed on April 27, dealing another blow to embattled prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Dr Poulter, a former health minister, told the Observer newspaper that he was switching parties and called on Mr Sunak to call a general election “as soon as possible”.

Dr Poulter said he was motivated by the troubles facing Britain’s public-funded National Health Service (NHS).

“It is abundantly clear to me that the Labour Party alone has the will and the trust to restore and reform the NHS,” he told the Observer, in comments published on the website of its sister paper, The Guardian.

“That’s why we need a Labour government, and why I believe Keir Starmer must lead that government as our next prime minister,” he added.

Dr Poulter serves a constituency in south-east England.

Mr Starmer wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “fantastic to welcome Dr Dan Poulter MP to today’s changed Labour Party.”

Mr Sunak’s Conservatives are languishing in the polls ahead of a general election, which will almost certainly take place this year. AFP