A senior cabinet minister has said he is “disappointed” but “not surprised” at Rosie Duffield’s resignation from the Labour Party.
The Canterbury MP’s decision to resign and sit as an independent had been coming “for quite a long time”, Pat McFadden told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show.
Duffield announced she was resigning the Labour whip in the Times on Saturday, citing what she called the “cruel and unnecessary” policies of the two-child benefit cap and the ongoing gifts row.
She wrote in her resignation letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer: “The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale.
“I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.”
But speaking on Sunday, McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, admitted: “When I read Rosie’s letter last night… I think you can see she has been disillusioned with the party leader, maybe the party more generally, for quite a long time.
“I don’t think this is something that just developed in the last few months.”
He added: “I’m disappointed to see her go. I like Rosie, but ultimately I’m not surprised at the decision that she has made.”
Duffield, who will now become Parliament’s 14th independent MP, has long had a strained relationship with the Labour leadership, especially over the debate over transgender rights.
She also claimed to the BBC that Sir Keir had “a problem with women”, saying he was surrounded by a group she and other female MPs had dubbed “the lads are in charge”.
However, McFadden denied that “the lads” were in charge, saying cabinet ministers “believe in public service”.
He also told the BBC Labour would be tightening the rules on declaring ministerial donations to bring them in line with those governing shadow ministers, which are published more often.