Christian Wakeford is the Labour MP for Bury South, having first been elected to parliament as a Conservative MP at the 2019 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Wakeford (standing as a Labour candidate) won 19,247 votes, representing 45.6% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Arnie Saunders, received 9,886 votes (23.4%), while the Reform UK candidate, Jeff Armstrong, secured 6,865 votes (16.3%). Christian Wakeford was duly elected with a majority of 9,361 votes.  

The Bury South constituency is located in Greater Manchester and includes Prestwich, Whitefield, Radcliffe, and Unsworth. It has a significant Jewish population. Historically held by the Conservatives before 1997, Labour held the seat until 2019 when Wakeford won it narrowly for the Conservatives.

In 2019, Wakeford, who had secured the “red wall” Bury South seat by just 402 votes.

Political Career

Wakeford was appointed to the post of junior lord of the Treasury and government whip in the September 2025 ministerial reshuffle. He served as an assistant government whip from July 2024 to September 2025.

Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, Wakeword was an opposition whip (October 2022 – May 2024).

Wakeford crossed the floor of the House of Commons to join the Labour Party on 19 January 2022. The defection was announced at 11:58 am – just two minutes before the start of prime minister’s questions. At the time, Boris Johnson, the prime minister, was under intense pressure over reports of gatherings in Downing Street at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the months leading up to his defection, Wakeford, a Conservative member for 20 years, reportedly worked closely with Labour MP Barry Gardiner on the latter’s campaign to ban the firing and rehiring of employees. Wakeford was the only Tory MP to support Gardiner’s Employment and Trade Union Rights (Dismissal and Re-engagement) Bill.

In his resignation letter, Wakeford cited the prime minister’s conduct during the Partygate scandal, accusing the government of “trying to defend the indefensible”.

He wrote that Britain needed “a government that upholds the highest standards of integrity and probity in public life and sadly both you and the Conservative Party as a whole have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves.”

Wakeford added: “My decision is about much more than your leadership and the disgraceful way you have conducted yourself in recent weeks.

“However, I don’t believe all politicians are the same and I do believe in the power of politics to be a force for good. So does Keir Starmer.”

Starmer welcomed Wakeford to the Labour benches at prime minister’s questions. He argued that Wakeford’s defection was proof that the Labour Party had “changed”.

Boris Johnson responded: “As for Bury South, let me say to [Starmer] that the Conservative Party won Bury South for the first time in generations under this prime minister, with an agenda of uniting, levelling up and delivering for the people of Bury South, and we will win again in Bury South at the next election under this prime minister.”

Wakeford was subsequently removed from the 2019-intake WhatsApp group by his former colleague, Conservative MP Aaron Bell.

Wakeford later alleged he had been subjected to blackmail by the government Whips’ Office during his time as a Tory MP. He cited a threat that funding for a new high school in Radcliffe would be withheld if he did not vote with the government on free school meals. He alleged that the former education secretary, Gavin Williamson, was behind the threat.

Wakeford said: “I was threatened that I would not get a school for Radcliffe if I did not vote in one particular way. This is a town that has not had a high school for the best part of 10 years.

“How would you feel when they hold back the regeneration of a town for a vote. It didn’t sit comfortably. That was the start of me questioning my place, where I was and ultimately to where I am now.”

Williamson responded: “I don’t have any recollection of the conversation as described but what I do remember is working tirelessly with Christian and others in order to be able to deliver this school, which I did.”

In December 2022, Wakeford apologised for previously claiming asylum seekers “have a shopping trolley as to what they want as economic migrants”. The comments came as Wakeford, then a Conservative MP, backed the Nationality and Borders Bill in July 2021.

He told the commons at the time: “These asylum seekers aren’t just travelling through one safe country, they’re very often travelling through many safe countries – essentially having a shopping trolley as to what they want, economic migration.”

Some months later, addressing Westminster Hall as a Labour MP, Wakeford said: “I want to go on record and say what I said 18 months ago was wrong and I am sorry for saying it.

“Every week, the government uses scapegoats and as we continue to see even yesterday, asylum seekers have been one for this government for far too long. I am sorry for playing into that narrative. These people aren’t arbitrary numbers for newspaper editors to froth at the mouth about and stoke the fire of intolerance.

“They are human beings who have hopes and dreams, for them and their children, they want a good education, to live life without fear of persecution.”

Wakeford was the first of a series of floor-crossings during the 2019-2024 parliament.

Wakeford was a member of the House of Commons science, innovation and technology committee (2022-2024), the transport committee (2022-2022), and the education committee (2020-2022).

Wakeford delivered his maiden speech on 22 January 2020 during a debate on the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill.

In it, he said: “After many years of Labour neglect in the north and our northern towns, the Conservatives have now been able to build our very own blue wall in the north; after those many years of Labour neglect, our northern counterparts from ‘Game of Thrones’ remind us that ‘the North remembers’.”

He added: “Many have asked why I decided to come to this place. As a former insurance broker, I was already hated, so, with not really having a passion for selling houses, I thought, why not go into politics and become a member of parliament? So that was the clear direction of travel.

“All jokes aside, I am a strong believer in social mobility, as a compassionate Conservative, and I believe the best way to achieve social mobility is through education.”

Before entering parliament, Wakeford served as a Conservative councillor on Lancashire County Council and on Pendle Borough Council, where he was leader of the Conservative group.

Political views

Wakeford voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Bright Blue: Wakeford has been listed as a parliamentary supporter of Bright Blue, an independent centre-right think tank and membership organisation that champions liberal conservatism in the UK. Since its founding in 2014, the organisation has expanded its reach through a new cross-party strategy.

Northern Research Group: In the 2019-2024 parliament, during his tenure as a Conservative MP, Wakeford was listed as a member of the Northern Research Group (NRG). The NRG was a faction within the Conservative Party composed of MPs representing constituencies across the north of England. It was founded by Jake Berry, who served as minister of state for the northern powerhouse and local growth from 2017 to 2020. The group’s stated aim was to pressure the Conservative government to deliver on its “levelling up” agenda.

Welfare vote (July 2025): Wakeford voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Wakeford voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Covid passes vote (2021): Wakeford was one of 126 MPs to vote against Covid passes in England in December 2021. The measure, introduced by Boris Johnson’s government, was carried by 369 votes to 126.

Before Politics

Born Christian Wakeford in Burnley, Lancashire on 9 November 1984, his maternal grandfather was Ukrainian. He studied politics at Lancaster University.

Wakeford later studied chemistry at the Open University whilst employed as an indirect account manager at a telecoms company.

Wakeford worked as a case worker for Conservative MP Andrew Stephenson from 2015 to 2016 and was a local education authority governor.  

Personal Life

Wakeford is married to Alexandra Wakeford.

His older brother Mark Jones died in a car accident in 2015.

Trivia

Wakeford was the first sitting Conservative to join Labour in 15 years. His immediate predecessor in this regard was Quentin Davies, who defected from the Conservatives to Labour in June 2007.