Sarah Wollaston's Defection From Leave Campaign Prompts EU Referendum Conspiracy Theories

'Planted in the Leave camp to do the dirty.'
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Conspiracy theories have quickly followed the announcement from a prominent Conservative MP that she was defecting from the Brexit campaign to support us remaining in the EU.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, the chair of the Commons health select committee and an outspoken MP, said on Wednesday evening she had become convinced leaving the EU would damage the NHS.

"For someone like me who has long campaigned for open and honest data in public life I could not have set foot on a battle bus that has at the heart of its campaign a figure that I know to be untrue," Wollaston told the BBC.

But many claimed she had been bribed or was a "Remain plant" all along.

Pro-Brexit Tory MP Stewart Jackson even got involved, retweeting a claim that she was planted.

Tory MP @Stewart4Pboro has just retweeted the theory that @sarahwollaston was "a Remain plant" pic.twitter.com/YNFJ2iOCSm

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 8, 2016

When challenged by Sky News' Faisal Islam over the retweet, he dismissed Wollaston’s move as “not significant at all”.

"She’s been making same claims for three weeks. Flaky but entitled to 5 mins of fame," he said on Twitter.

@faisalislam @sarahwollaston Not "significant" at all - she's been making same claims for three weeks. Flaky but entitled to 5 mins of fame

— Stewart Jackson MP (@Stewart4Pboro) June 8, 2016

Others on were quick to join in...

@sarahwollaston But haven't you been pro-remain all along? Sounds to me like this is some sort of PR stunt.#EUref #Brexit #Flexcit

— Shaun Murray (@BestWebEnglish) June 8, 2016

@IAM568 @cllrhayward @sarahwollaston No. It was all set up and she knows it. Planted in the Leave camp to do the dirty

— VOTE LEAVE EU ! (@73Antw) June 8, 2016

@mellenoweth @sarahwollaston SHE DIDN'T CHANGE HER MIND ! IT WAS A STITCH UP !

— VOTE LEAVE EU ! (@73Antw) June 8, 2016

@sarahwollaston how much has the lying Cameron paid you to swap sides?? The U.K. Will be worse off and you know it

— West Bromwich Albion (@stuwba68) June 8, 2016

@karlmccartney @ben4ipswich @sarahwollaston anyone else wonder if there was an intentional plant by Remain?

— William Pennell (@William_Pennell) June 8, 2016

Pretty sure Sarah Wollaston was always a plant from the Remain side. Makes a lot more sense than any other explanation.

— Dale Bassett (@dalebassett) June 8, 2016

It's not a "conspiracy theory" to suspect Sarah Wollaston. Anyone who SWAPS teams because the other side told a fib is clearly a plant.

— Mike Spudgun (@spudgun01) June 9, 2016

Although not everyone was buying it, including Mark Wallace, the executive editor of ConservativeHome:

I think she's wrong, but anyone suggesting @sarahwollaston was ordered to switch sides has clearly never previously heard of Sarah Wollaston

— Mark Wallace (@wallaceme) June 9, 2016

Ah. According to my timeline Wollaston was an EU Lizard Woman all along. A plant.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) June 9, 2016

In fact, Wollaston is being accused a being a Lizard Plant. A sort of EU Triffid.

— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) June 9, 2016

'The electoral registration site was deliberately crashed and Sarah Wollaston is a government plant!!!!!' pic.twitter.com/0k7arJO0dW

— Jason Spacey (@Jason_Spacey) June 9, 2016

Wollaston also hinted on Thursday that other MPs were also considering defecting from the Leave campaign.

She told ITV's deputy political editor Chris Ship: "I think there are many people who have expressed their concerns...politicians just like the public are torn with this decision."

Wollaston told the BBC she had become convinced the NHS would suffer a "Brexit penalty" if the UK voted to leave the EU on June 23.

"If you’re in a position where you can’t hand out a Vote Leave leaflet, you can’t be campaigning for that organisation," she said.

She also tweeted:

Having listened carefully to both sides of the debate, I believe our NHS & research will be safer if Britain remains in the EU

— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) June 8, 2016

If I woke on the 24th June to the news that Britain had voted to leave the EU, I would feel a sense of loss rather than freedom.

— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) June 8, 2016

Of course I understand that politicians are not allowed to change their minds but real people do

— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) June 8, 2016

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she accused the Leave campaign of “post=truth politics”.

According to the Guardian, she added: “I can’t step foot on a battlebus or distribute a leaflet with information that I know to be untrue.”

Vote Leave’s argument that leaving the EU would free up £350m for the NHS has been criticised by the Commons Treasury as “highly misleading”.

The committee pointed out a substantial proportion of that figure already came back to Britain through the EU’s budget and as part of the UK’s rebate.

The UK Statistics Authority also said the claim was “misleading and undermines trust in official statistics”.

Her decision was welcomed by the prime minister:

A powerful intervention by @sarahwollaston, an MP and Dr who will no longer vote Leave because she thinks it will damage the economy & NHS.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 8, 2016

Find out why @sarahwollaston is giving up on Vote Leave and thinks Brexit should carry a health warning: https://t.co/vaopvoRiEt #StrongerIn

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 9, 2016

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