Five Labour by-election councillors defect

Labour’s campaign to hold the west London seat of Ealing, Southall, in a by-election in nine days time was rocked by the defection today of five councillors to the Conservatives.

The by-election on July 19 will be an early test of Gordon Brown’s premiership. Another by-election is being held in Sedgefield, County Durham, on the same day, following Tony Blair’s decision to stand down as an MP.

David Cameron said the switch by Manjit Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Maninder Kaur Keith, Jarnail Singh Jandu and Jagdish Gupta was the "clearest possible indication" that the Conservative Party had changed and modernised.

Gurcharan Singh is a long-standing Labour Party member who came close to winning the Labour nomination for the vacancy caused by the death last month of Piara Khabra at the age of 82.

The Labour nomination was secured by Virendra Sharma, who is defending an 11,440 majority over the Liberal Democrats, with the Conservatives close behind.

The mass defection was a blow to Labour ahead of what is expected to be a closely-fought contest at the start of Mr Brown’s premiership.

In a statement, the five said the Conservative candidate Tony Lit was the best person to represent the constituency and "to provide him with our backing and joining the Conservative Party sends the clearest possible message".

The Conservative-controlled Ealing Council had been making "great strides" towards improving the quality of life for residents.

"We have finally reached the stage where it has become blatantly obvious that we would be doing our own voters a great disservice if we continue to dogmatically stick with a disorganised and divided Labour Party," the statement said.

"At a national level we are extremely impressed by David Cameron’s modern Conservatives and, with the changes that he has now made, we feel that the Conservative Party now best represents our views.

"In a sense we believe the Conservatives have become our natural home and we are very excited about the opportunity to play a full part in a Party which we believe is destined to form the next government."

Mr Cameron, campaigning in Ealing today, said the switch of allegiance was an important moment in British Politics.

"This is the clearest possible indication that the Conservative Party having been changed and modernised is now a voice for everybody.

"We have broadened our appeal and many more people now feel that they can make their home in the modern Conservative Party. I think particularly for British Asians who share our values and strong belief in family, enterprise and work, the Conservative Party is their natural home," Mr Cameron said.

The leader of Ealing Labour group, councillor Sonika Nirwal, said he was disappointed in Gurcharan Singh’s "hugely divisive" decision.

"Gurcharan Singh has always made clear that his driving ambition was to become an MP. And he did everything he could within the Labour Party to achieve that ambition. But I am still shocked that he is willing to go to any lengths to become an MP," Mr Nirwal said.

An independent candidate - Golbash Singh - also announced that he was now supporting the Tories.

Telegraph