Christian Wakeford

Christian Wakeford (born 9 November 1984) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury South since the 2019 United Kingdom general election.

Elected as a Conservative, he crossed the floor to Labour in 2022.

Wakeford has described himself as having Ukrainian heritage; his maternal grandfather was Ukrainian.

He was the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Labour since Quentin Davies in 2007.

His defection surprised many Conservatives; however, Wakeford had approached the Labour Party about a possible defection several months before.

He cited the Dominic Cummings scandal, removal of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, the cost of living crisis, the Owen Paterson affair, and "partygate" as factors in his decision.

It was also reported that Labour MP Barry Gardiner had encouraged Wakeford to move to Labour, following their work together in support of Gardiner's anti "fire and rehire" bill.

After graduating with a third class degree in politics at Lancaster University, Wakeford was employed as an indirect account manager at a telecoms company for four years, from October 2009 to October 2013.

From 2009 to 2017, he was a local education authority governor for Colne Park High School.

Concurrently, Wakeford undertook an undergraduate degree in chemistry through the Open University from 2010 to 2014.

In 2013, he was elected for the Pendle Hill division on Lancashire County Council.

From 2015 to 2016, he was a House of Commons case worker for Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson.

In 2015, he became a borough councillor for Barrowford ward on Pendle Borough Council, and from 2019 to 2020 was leader of its Conservative Group.

In 2018, he became co-chair of Lancashire County Council's Education Scrutiny Committee.

After his election as an MP in December 2019, Wakeford continued claiming public allowances for at least three roles outside the House of Commons – as a Lancashire county councillor, as chair of that council's education scrutiny committee and as a Pendle borough councillor – despite having announced his resignation in February 2020.

Wakeford received a total allowance equating to £22,041 on top of his salary of £81,932 as an MP.

Between the general election in December 2019 and July 2020, there were reportedly only two full meetings of Lancashire County Council, of which Wakeford had attended one.

Over the same time, Lancashire County Council's Education Scrutiny Committee reportedly held three meetings, of which Wakeford – as committee chair – had attended one.

In December 2019, Wakeford was elected as the Conservative MP for Bury South, winning the seat by 402 votes (a 0.8% majority) from long-term Labour MP, Ivan Lewis, who had held the seat since Labour's landslide victory in 1997.

Lewis had stood as an independent candidate at the 2019 election, but polled in fifth place with 1,366 votes.

In an interview with Insurance Age in March 2020, which described him as an "[i]nsurance broker turned Conservative MP", Wakeford said "his time in the insurance industry" gave him "experience of the real world" and "the communication skills needed to speak to businesses".

Before becoming an MP, Wakeford held several public office roles.

In June 2020, Wakeford stated that he had not resigned his Lancashire County Council seat as a block on elections during the COVID-19 pandemic would leave residents without representation for a year.

Wakeford attributed his change of mind over his resignation to a desire to ensure the two areas where he was a councillor were not without representation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fellow councillor Mark Perks was critical of this justification, citing a comparable case in Chorley Council where the incumbent had stepped down and no by-election was held and other colleagues had stood in.

Perks said: "[Wakeford] is not even an MP for part of Lancashire and it just grates with me that somebody can be elected to Parliament and get all their expenses, but then stay on at a local authority and claim expenses for that, too – it's not doing a service to the residents in his area, nor the council taxpayers of Lancashire."

Wakeford's office had stated in June 2020 that he would relinquish his chairmanship of the Education Scrutiny Committee, which attracted an allowance of £7,620 per annum.

In July 2020, Private Eye reported that after the general election, Wakeford had applied to Pendle Borough Council for leave of absence "while he sorted himself out in Westminster".

His request was declined and in April 2020 Wakeford automatically lost his seat, as he had not attended a borough council meeting for six months.

Wakeford had been receiving an annual allowance as a councillor of Lancashire County Council and Pendle Borough Council until 6 May 2021 and 24 April 2020 respectively.

On 14 March 2020, Wakeford was appointed as a member of the House of Commons Education Committee.

The committee has since been involved in inquiries such as the impact of COVID-19 on education and children's services, adult skills and lifelong learning, and "left behind" white pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In July 2020, Wakeford was elected as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Jews, whose stated purpose is to promote understanding of the aspirations and challenges of the UK's Jewish community, with topics including religious freedom, faith-based education, welfare and social justice, in addition to celebrating the culture, contribution and achievements of the UK's Jewish community.

Residential areas within Bury South, particularly Prestwich and Whitefield, are home to some of Britain's largest Jewish communities outside London.

On 20 July 2021 in the second reading of the Nationality and Borders Bill Wakeford said asylum seekers travelling through several safe countries before reaching the UK "are very often travelling through many safe countries. Essentially they have a shopping trolley as to what they want in this economic migration".

Wakeford is one of 22 UK MPs who are members of the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd), an initiative of Results UK, a dual-registered company and charity.

It states its priorities are to achieve higher total and better quality financing for education, ensure policy makers prioritise helping the furthest behind first and secure a focus on the quality of education and improved learning.

It was reported in The Times on 5 November 2021 that Wakeford approached Owen Paterson and called him "a cunt" during the Owen Paterson affair, after the government, under the instruction of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whipped its MPs to vote to change rules on the way MPs' conduct is policed in order to avoid Paterson being suspended from parliament.

On 19 January 2022, Wakeford publicly confirmed that he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Johnson following the partygate scandal.

Later that day, it was announced that Wakeford had joined the Labour Party.