Former Conservative MP Mark Logan has announced his support for Labour in the upcoming general election, expressing his belief that the party can "bring back optimism into British life."

Logan, who represented Bolton North East for the Tories until Parliament dissolved on Thursday, stated, in an exclusive interview for BBC News, that Labour had undergone a "journey" and now embodied "centrist politics".

He also remarked that the Tory Party had become "unrecognizable" compared to the one he joined a decade ago.

It is worth noting that Logan won his seat with a narrow majority of just 378 votes in 2019, making it one of the most closely contested constituencies in the country.

Logan, a Brexit supporter, disclosed in the interview that he is stepping down and submitting his application to join Labour "today".

Labour has already selected a candidate for his former constituency.

When asked if he might run for Labour in the future, he responded, "I wouldn't rule out coming back into public life in the future but this is me definitely stepping down in this Parliament.”

A Conservative Party spokesperson said, "Much of the association wanted him deselected for inactivity and his failure to be present in Bolton for extended periods of time. And he's been asking No 10 for a peerage."

A second spokesperson mentioned that the party would soon select a new candidate for Bolton, adding, “It’s notable that Mark Logan has defected to a party he can’t even name a single policy of."

Logan, who supported Rishi Sunak for Tory leader, refrained from criticizing the prime minister personally, suggesting that Sunak could "leave politics with his head held high" if he lost the election.

"It's more about not the the push factor of Conservatives, but the pull factor of Keir Starmer, the new cabinet that would come in, the fresh faces, the fresh ideas," he explained.

Logan revealed that he had been contemplating supporting Labour "for quite a long period" but felt that stepping down as an MP was the appropriate time to announce his support for the party "because the electorate did vote me in as a Conservative MP."

From calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to defecting to Labour

In February, Logan diverged from his party's stance by calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asserting that "Israel" had "gone too far."

Around the same time, Labour also shifted its position to support an immediate humanitarian ceasefire after facing internal pressure.

When asked if Labour leader Keir Starmer had now adopted the correct stance on Gaza, Logan expressed his belief that Labour was "best placed to deal with what's going to come down the track" regarding the war on Gaza.

Logan, who is fluent in Mandarin, serves as chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on China. Before becoming an MP, he worked for the UK Foreign Office and was head of communications at the British Consulate-General in Shanghai.

In 2022, he resigned from his role as a ministerial aide in protest against Boris Johnson's leadership.

His defection follows that of two other MPs, Natalie Elphicke and Dan Poulter, who also left the Tories to join Labour earlier this month. Unlike Logan, they defected before Parliament was dissolved for the election, allowing them to briefly serve as Labour MPs before stepping down.

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