Former shadow Northern Ireland secretary Quentin Davies has defected to the Labour party due to Conservative party leader David Cameron's "lack of any clear convictions".

The 63-year-old, who has been an MP for the last 20 years, announced his decision in a letter to Mr Cameron that was forwarded on to the Press Association.

In the letter he said that the Tory leader had become obsessed with PR and had failed to deliver on policy, whereas the Labour party under Gordon Brown now had a "clear vision" for the future.

The move comes a day before Mr Brown, confirmed as Labour leader on Sunday, takes over from Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street.

Mr Davies, a pro-European MP who voted for Kenneth Clarke in the 2005 party leadership election, writes in his letter to Mr Cameron that his decision did not reflect a "personal animus" against the Tory leader, but he said his "many positive qualities" were outweighed by his "superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions".

The Grantham and Stamford MP added that these traits "ought to exclude you from the position of national leadership to which you aspire and which it is the presumed purpose of the Conservative party to achieve".

"Believing that as I do, I clearly cannot honestly remain in the party. I do not intend to leave public life," Mr Davies continued.
"On the contrary I am looking forward to joining another party with which I have found increasingly I am naturally in agreement and which has just acquired a leader I have always greatly admired, who I believe is entirely straightforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share."

In response to the MP's defection, Mr Cameron said in a letter to Mr Davies that his decision did "not come as a surprise".

"The Conservative party has changed, as you say," he wrote.

"People see that we are now focusing on what matters to them. That is why so many people are supporting us once again – as shown in May, when we won over 900 council seats.

"I am sorry that you feel unable to be part of today's Conservative party, and join us in campaigning on what matters to people – for example, against the NHS cuts or for a better deal for pensioners. The big dividing line in British politics is between Labour's approach of top down state control and the Conservative vision of pushing power outwards and downwards from central government, trusting people and sharing responsibility with them," Mr Cameron continued.

"You have made your choice and the British people will make theirs.

"Thank you for your support in the past. We will watch your future career with interest."

Mr Brown has already indicated that he intends his Cabinet to reflect "all the talents" of the UK's political sphere, a statement backed up by his offer of Northern Ireland secretary to former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown.

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