A Tory MP suggests he might defect...and it worries me

Dr Phillip Lee (Photo: The Wokingham Paper)

A Conservative MP seems likely to defect to the Liberal Democrats...and I have to say it worries me.

The member for Bracknell, Dr Phillip Lee, has been an outspoken supporter of a "People's Vote" on any Brexit deal and has consistently supported parliamentary sovereignty. He was the first minister to resign from the government (in June 2018) over its Brexit strategy and, last month, his local party passed a motion of no-confidence in him on the basis of his Brexit views. 

Last week Dr Lee gave an interview to LBC’s Iain Dale in which he stated that his party was no longer a “broad church”, likened Boris Johnson to a football manager shouting at a "pretty average team" that it's "all about belief”, and bemoaned the “lack of detail” in the government’s approach to Brexit. It was a powerful take-down of the Prime Minister in addition to confirming how the Brexit issue has resulted in the Conservatives moving so far rightward that previously mainstream MPs now feel the party is unrecognisable from the one they have served for decades.

Dr Lee says he has asked colleagues "is this the Conservative Party you joined? If it isn't, what are you going to do about it?" Speaking for himself, he added: “This doesn't feel like a broad church any more, and that concerns me. Both for my party and, perhaps more importantly, for my country."

Sky News also reported today that Dr Lee was speaking on a podcast with fellow Tory MP Sam Gyimah, when he was asked whether he might quit the Conservatives and join the Liberal Democrats.

In response he refused to deny it and admitted to “feeling politically homeless”. He explained that “the party I joined was the party of John Major and John Major, I think, is probably feeling like this judging by his contributions in recent weeks...I'm sort of sitting here, looking on and - yeah - I'm going to spend the summer thinking a lot."

I can completely empathise with Dr Lee’s position. He has been a Conservative since the Major years at least and remains a Conservative, but his party has left him. I can only imagine how it must feel when the party you have served faithfully not only fails to represent your views but treats you with distrust and hostility. It must be painful to be forced to abandon your party to the ultra-Brexiters and their toxic, narrow brand of Conservatism. It is a tragedy that there is no longer a Conservative Party in which people such as Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke, Heidi Allen, Justine Greening and Phillip Lee can feel they belong. 

I also understand the appeal of the Liberal Democrats on the Brexit issue to someone like Dr Lee. He has been nothing but consistent and his refusal to abandon his principles resulted in him resigning his ministerial post and later being deselected. He deserves credit for that, and I won’t question his integrity. 

But what I will question is whether Dr Lee is a Liberal Democrat, and whether we are in fact the right home for him.

Don’t get me wrong – I welcome philosophical liberals from other parties joining our movement, and I have huge respect for pro-European Tories like Dr Lee who have been outspoken in their criticisms of their party’s leadership. But the fact is that he is a Conservative, and not remotely liberal. Our values are not his values.

This may seem harsh and judgemental, so I’ll justify my concerns. Dr Lee is not some cuddly liberal-minded Tory in the Sarah Wollaston or Heidi Allen mould. As one might expect for a graduate in medicine, Dr Lee has an interest in health issues - but his views might not be what one might expect from someone considering membership of the Lib Dems. In 2013 Lee suggested that individuals, not the state, should bear responsibility for what he termed “lifestyle choices” – effectively arguing that medicine should be denied to people, such as diabetics, if their “lifestyles” were deemed to contribute to the condition. He went further a year later when he insisted migrants should be screened for HIV and Hepatitis B in the interests of “public health protection”. None of this is likely to appear in any Liberal Democrat election manifesto any time soon.

He also consistently opposed House of Lords reform, is a supporter of fracking, believes that the UK needs to increase its nuclear power capabilities, has generally voted against laws to promote equality and human rights, and refused to support same-sex marriage on the basis that parliament’s role need not extend beyond legislating for civil partnerships and encouraging the established church to recognise same-sex unions (something which seems far more difficult than legislating for same-sex marriage, to be brutally honest...)

I would like to ask Dr Lee a similar question to the one he asked his colleagues: take a look at our party. Is this is all honesty the party you want to join? If it isn't, what are you going to do about it?

I can understand – and admire – his Brexit stance. But the Liberal Democrats are far from simply the party of Brexit – we are the party of human rights, of electoral reform, of health equality – indeed, we are the party of liberalism. Dr Lee clearly has well-developed views on many things, but he’s a good old-fashioned pro-European Conservative rather than a Liberal Democrat. We may well sympathise with his struggles but the Liberal Democrats are not a home for unreconstructed Tories with less than liberal social views, whatever their perspectives on Brexit. 

If he’s spending the summer thinking about his political future, I hope he considers a range of other options than the one put to him. He may like our party and our new leader; he may admire our approach to Brexit – but unless he’s radically changed his views he’s never going to feel any more at home among us than he does in his current party. 

I doubt that will be in anyone’s interests.