Hague's ex-aide defects to Labour

Ceri Evans was unhappy with Conservative policies

A former senior aide to Conservative Party leader William Hague has defected from the Tories to join Labour.

Ceri Evans was director of presentation to Mr Hague in 1999 before heading up Steve Norris's campaign for London Mayor last year.

London race: Evans headed Stephen Norris's bid to be London's mayor

But the 39-year-old Swansea-born communications manager had expressed concern at Mr Hague's direction on key policy areas.

And before that, during Mr Norris's campaign to become mayor of London, the Guardian newspaper ran extracts of a secretly-taped conversation involving Mr Evans.

In it Mr Evans described the Conservative Party as having an "unpleasant core" in some attitudes on race and homosexuality.

And In his view, some party supporters did not back Mr Norris's anti-racist and anti-homophobic policies.

Mr Evans is expected to receive his Labour Party membership card by the end of the week.

In a statement, he said: "Quite simply I believe that the issues facing Britain are best dealt with by strong leadership and a clear sense of purpose. Tony Blair has both those qualities.

"The Conservative Party has failed to grasp the opportunity to change, and have failed to offer leadership on key issues such as education, health and enterprise."

The present (Conservative) leadership is also unwilling to acknowledge that tolerance is not only desirable but necessary for a country to grow and prosper

Ceri Evans

In an apparent reference to Mr Hague's recent "foreign land" speech, Mr Evans said: "The present (Conservative) leadership is also unwilling to acknowledge that tolerance is not only desirable but necessary for a country to grow and prosper."

His comments followed the Tory leader's much criticised failure to expel backbencher John Townend for blaming immigrants for rising crime figures.

Mr Townend had spoken of "Commonwealth immigration" undermining Britain's "homogenous Anglo-Saxon society" and said Enoch Powell had been right in making pessimistic forecasts about its impact.

A Labour spokesman said: "Tony Blair's strong leadership and the effective way that Labour has managed the economy is bringing us new supporters all the time.

"In 1997, Labour benefited from the support of many new voters for Labour. The same will be true with the next election.

"At the same time, the weak leadership and extreme policies of William Hague continue to turn voters off and alienate mainstream public opinion."

Conservative Central Office declined to comment.