Defectors Trivia Quiz

Answer: Owen and Rodgers

David Owen was MP for Plymouth Devonport at the time of his defection to the SDP. Bill Rodgers was MP for Stockton.
Shirley Williams had been defeated at Hertford and Stevenage in 1979. Jenkins had resigned his Birmingham Stetchford seat in the 1970s to become President of the European Commission.

Answer: 28

28 out of 269 Labour MPs (or just over 10% of the Parliamentary Labour Party) defected to the SDP in 1981-2.

Answer: Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler

Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler, who was Conservative MP for
North-West Norfolk, defected to the SDP. Grant and Crawshaw were Labour MPs who defected to the SDP. Gilmour was a left-wing Conservative MP who remained within the Conservative Party.

Answer: Emma Nicholson

Emma Nicholson, who was Conservative MP for West Devon and Torridge, defected to the Lib Dems in 1995. Her defection led to her getting into a series of bizarre arguments with a number of her former Conservative colleagues - including Angela Rumbold who, along with Roe and Knight was a Conservative MP at the time. Nicholson published a book after her defection called "The Secret Society" in which she heavily criticised her former party.

Answer: Reg Prentice

Prentice, who was deselected by his local Labour Party in Newham, defected to the Conservatives. Benn, a left-wing Labour Cabinet Minister, and Dell, a right-wing Labour Cabinet Minister, did not defect to the Conservatives. Howell was Conservative MP for Guildford.

Answer: False

Though he is on the radical Left Wing of his Party, Dennis Skinner, the MP for Bolsover, has only ever represented Labour in Parliament.

Answer: True

Horam, the Conservative MP for Orpington, was a Labour MP in Gateshead, before defecting to the Social Democratic Party in 1981. He was defeated at the 1983 General Election and later defected to the Conservatives, being selected as Conservative Candidate for Orpington at the 1992 General Election.

Answer: Peter Thurnham

Thurnham was the MP for Bolton North-East.

Answer: Referendum Party

Gardiner, a Eurosceptic right-winger, was the only MP to join Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party.

Answer: Shaun Woodward

Woodward defected to the Labour Party after he was sacked from the Conservative Frontbench for refusing to support the retention of Section 28. Alan Howarth had defected to Labour in 1995. Gerald Howarth and Nicholas Winterton were - and still are - very right-wing Conservative MPs who are unlikely to defect to even "New" Labour.

Woodward's defection perhaps acts as a warning to any MP contemplating leaving their party. Woodward was found a safe Labour seat in St Helens - which he still represents in Parliament - but is confined to relative obscurity on the backbenches.