Local Liberal Democrats have been left reeling after it was revealed that two members have jumped ship to join the Conservative party.

Rob Wilson, Reading East MP said: "I am delighted to welcome these extremely senior members of Reading Liberal Democrats to the Conservative Party. I'm sure they will be able to tell me everything about the Lib Dem's Reading East election campaign and fill me in with all the insider news about their forthcoming strategies."

The defection news has buoyed local Tories. "Under David Cameron’s leadership we are attracting many people with no principles whatsoever to the party, so I really hope they haven't been attending Labour Party fundraising parties like Tony Lit did in Southall because I think it's demeaning to the political process to have people touting themselves to any party that will have them," said the former SDP member.

After the shock defections of Shahid Younis and Ali Asghar, we asked the local Liberal Central Branch chairman David Langshaw to comment on this severe blow to his party's morale and he asked us: "Who?"