It seems that the Manchester Labour Party are suffering from a strange case of selective and collective amnesia. At least two Labour Councillors (and probably several more) have demanded that new Conservative Councillor Faraz Bhatti should resign and fight a by-election following his defection from the Liberal Democrats.
Presumably they said the same thing when former Chorlton Councillor Angela Gallagher defected to Labour from the Liberal Democrats. Funnily enough, I don’t think they did.
I presume that the two local councillors who have stated their views so clearly on the MEN website will also be calling on Quentin Davies MP to stand down after defecting. His constituents voted Conservative in Grantham in 2005, but yet now have a New Labour MP.
As far as I can see, Faraz has very good reasons to defect. The people of Whalley Range elected an opposition councillor, and the Manchester Lib Dems have failed to be that. He therefore has joined the only progressive alternative to the current consensus on Manchester Council, and I know we welcome his change in Manchester.