State of the Parties

¹ The Celtic Alliance was formed on the 27 th June 2001. The joint leaders are Alex Salmond MP of the Scottish National Party and Elfyn Llwyd of Plaid Cymru.
² Paul Marsden (Shrewsbury & Atcham) defected from Labour to the Liberal Democrats on 8 th December 2001 following his opposition to the war in Afghanistan. He defected back from the Lib Dems to Labour on the 5 th of April 2005.
³ Andrew Hunter (Basingstoke) resigned the Conservative whip on the 2 nd October 2002 to stand as a DUP candidate in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections. He joined the DUP on 10 th December 2004.
¹³David Burnside (South Antrim), Jeffrey Donaldson (Lagan Valley), and Martin Smyth (Belfast South) resigned the UUP whip on 23 rd June 2003. David Burnside (South Antrim) and Martin Smyth (Belfast South) reaccepted the UUP whip on 9 th January 2004.
⁴ Sarah Teather won Brent East from the Liberal Democrats from Labour on the 18 th September 2003.
⁵ George Galloway (Glasgow Kelvin) was expelled from the Labour party on 23 rd October 2003 for opposing the massacre of innocent civilians. Since 25 th January 2004 he has stood as a member of Respect, the Unity Coalition.
¹²Jeffrey Donaldson (Lagan Valley) resigned from the UUP on 18 th December 2003 and joined the DUP on 5 th January 2004.
¹¹The Conservative whip was withdrawn from Rosie Winterton (Congleton) on 25 th February 2004 and restored on 31 st March 2004.
⁶ Parmjit Singh Gill won Leicester South from the Liberal Democrats from Labour on the 15 th July 2004.
¹⁰ Robert Jackson (Wantage) defected from Conservative to Labour on the 15 th January 2005.
⁸The Conservative whip was withdrawn from Jonathan Sayeed (Mid Bedfordshire) on 3 rd February 2005, restored on 7 th March 2005, and withdrawn again on 18 th March 2005.
⁹The Conservative whip was withdrawn from Howard Flight (Arundel & South Down) on 25 th March 2005.