FORMER Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach has joined the Lib Dems in yet another blow for Boris Johnson.
The Eddisbury MP is the fifth Conservative to join Jo Swinson’s party this year – with just 42 days to go until the general election.
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Ex-barrister Sandbach will contest her current seat as a Lib Dem candidate at the December 12 election, The Times reports.
She won the seat in 2017 as a Tory candidate with an almost-12,000 majority.
Ms Sandbach said tonight: “This general election will be the most important in my lifetime.
“People have a very clear choice, the Conservative Party offers years of uncertainty whilst the Liberal Democrats will stop Brexit.”
She also said she was “proud” to stand against other Lib Dems in their bid to get Ms Swinson elected prime minister.
The Lib Dem leader has welcomed the shift – and described the MP as a “passionate campaigner” and a “fantastic candidate”.
She now has 20 MPs in the party – with five of them defecting from the Tories and three from Labour.
Ms Sandbach voted to leave the EU three times under the terms of former prime minister Theresa May’s deal.
She was one of 21 MPs who had the Tory whip withdrawn by Boris in September for voting to block a no deal Brexit.
Ten of the ministers have since had the whip restored, but Ms Sandbach was not one of them.
She had planned to stand as an independent candidate before today announcing she was joining the Lib Dems.
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