'I'm done': President of Birmingham Young Conservatives defects to Liberal Democrats

Days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling an election, Harvey Whitby penned a letter of resignation lambasting the Tory leader and revealing he was joining the Lib Dems.

Mr Whitby posted his letter of resignation on X, formerly Twitter, last night with a two-word sign off "I'm done".

His letter to the chairman said: "I am writing to you to inform you of my decision to resign as the President of the Birmingham Young Conservatives, effective immediately.

"I feel compelled to stand down at this critical juncture. The failures of Rishi Sunak's leadership have been profoundly disappointing. His inability to effectively address any of the real issues and his failure to inspire confidence in our party's vision has been disheartening."

Mr Whitby went on to criticise Tory MPs for not installing Penny Mordaunt MP as leader, the central party's "determination to lose elections" and the party's flagship policy promise to reintroduce National Service.

He said: "I fear these missteps won't just lose us this election but could lock us out of Government for a generation or more. It has become increasingly difficult for me to stand before the public, whether canvassing or online, and encourage them to vote Conservative.

"In light of this, I made the decision to join the Liberal Democrats."

His tweet has been seen over 470,000 times within 15 hours.