List of British political defections

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This is a list of notable defections or splits made by United Kingdom parliamentarians. They must have either been sitting MPs, MSPs or MEPs at the time, or in between sessions.

Year Name Original affiliation New affiliation Notes
1888 Robert Cunninghame-Graham Liberal Scottish Labour The first socialist MP.
1904 Winston Churchill Conservative Liberal
1919 Cecil L'Estrange Malone Liberal British Socialist Party subsequently joined the Communist Party of Great Britain.
1920 Oswald Mosley Conservative Independent
1924 Oswald Mosley Independent Labour
1924 Winston Churchill Independent (Constitutionalist) Conservative
1931 Oswald Mosley Labour New Party
1931 Ramsay MacDonald and
Philip Snowden		 Labour National Labour
1946 Ernest Rogers Millington Common Wealth Labour
1947 Campbell Stephen,
John McGovern and
James Carmichael		 Ind. Labour Party Labour
1948 Tom Horabin Liberal Labour
1948 Ivor Thomas Labour Conservative
1955 Richard Acland Labour Independent
1962 Alan Brown Labour Conservative
1968 Desmond Donnelly Labour Independent Later formed the Democratic Party
1974 Christopher Mayhew Labour Liberal
1976 John Stonehouse Labour English National Party
1976 Jim Sillars Labour Scottish Labour
1976 John Robertson Labour Scottish Labour
1977 Reginald Prentice Labour Conservative
1981 Shirley Williams,
David Owen,
Roy Jenkins and
Bill Rodgers		 Labour Social Democrat A total of 28 Labour and 1 Conservative MPs eventually joined.
1990 Dick Douglas Labour Scottish National Party
1995 Alan Howarth Conservative Labour
1995 Emma Nicholson Conservative Liberal Democrats
1996 Peter Thurnham Conservative Liberal Democrats
1997 George Gardiner Conservative Referendum Party
1997 Peter Temple-Morris Conservative Labour Sat as a "One Nation Conservative" until 1998
1999 Shaun Woodward Conservative Labour
2000 Bill Newton Dunn MEP Conservative Liberal Democrats
2001 Paul Marsden Labour Liberal Democrats
2002 Richard Balfe MEP Labour Conservative
2002 Andrew Hunter Conservative Democratic Unionist Did not take party whip until 2004
2003 Margo MacDonald Scottish National Party Independent
2004 Jeffrey Donaldson Ulster Unionist Democratic Unionist
2004 George Galloway Labour Respect Independent until formation of RESPECT.
2004 Campbell Martin Scottish National Party Independent
2004 Robert Kilroy-Silk MEP UK Independence Veritas
2005 Robert V. Jackson Conservative Labour
2005 Brian Monteith Conservative Independent
2006 Clare Short Labour Independent

[edit] See also

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