MP Ian Austin quit the Labour Party earlier this year, branding Jeremy Corbyn an ‘extremist’
Now Mr Austin has announced he will be voting for the Tories in the December election. Here’s all you need to know.
Who is Ian Austin?
Ian Austin was born on March 6, 1965, and adopted by two school teachers.
His father was a Czech Jew who fled the Nazis in 1939.
He was elected as a councillor in Dudley in 1991 before becoming a press officer for the West Midlands Labour Party and deputy director of communications for the Scottish Labour Party in the late-90s.
In 1999, he was appointed political adviser to Gordon Brown and became one of the then-Chancellors most trusted confidantes.
Mr Austin became an MP in 2005.
What has he been saying about Labour?
Mr Austin, 54, who represented the seat of Dudley , quit the party in February over its anti-semitism scandal and felt Labour drift further towards the extreme left.
He now plans to stand as an independent candidate in another constituency in theDecember general election but will vote for the Tories.
Mr Austin told The Times: Jeremy Corbyn is an extremist who is completely unfit to run the country, I wouldnt say Boris Johnson is unfit to run the country.
He added: “Jeremy Corbyn is an extremist. Hes allowed the Labour Party to be poisoned by extremism and racism, he supported terrorism, he cant be trusted with our defence and he always picks the wrong side.
Mr Austin said he has become ashamed of the party under leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In a furious blast, he claimed party bosses were tougher on the people who expose anti-Semitism than on the racists themselves.
The 53-year-old has long been one of Mr Corbyn’s fiercest critics.
He announced his resignation in his local Express & Star newspaper.
The MP said: “The Labour party has been my life, so this has been the hardest decision I have ever had to take, but I have to be honest and the truth is that I have become ashamed of the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn.
“I am appalled at the offence and distress Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party have caused to Jewish people.
“The hard truth is that the party is tougher on the people complaining about anti-Semitism than it is on the anti-Semites.”
He was on the front benchers under both Mr Brown and Ed Miliband, but when Mr Corbyn became leader he was cast into the wilderness.
In 2018 party chiefs launched a formal probe into Mr Austin after he called Labour’s anti-Semitism rules a “disgrace”.
