Originally Posted by Anthony Butcher

Is the word 'defected' accurate? He had the whip withdrawn, so he was an independent MP.

Was he still a Conservative party member? That could probably count as defection.

To be fair, someone defecting from/leaving the Tory party is huge political news. An independent joining a minor party (UKIP, Greens etc) is just news. All that matters in the modern media is conflict amongst famous political personalities. Hence the value of the news is only relative to how embarrassing it is for Cameron, Clegg or Brown. If he had immediately left the Tories and gone straight to UKIP, it would have been much bigger news.