A Kent MP continues to face backlash after defecting to the Labour Party – with new and old allies criticising the move and party leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Natalie Elphicke, who represents Dover and Deal, crossed the floor in the House of Commons yesterday after slamming Rishi Sunak’s “tired and chaotic government” and accusing the Prime Minister of failing to deliver on his promise to “stop the boats”.
But her move to Labour is yet to convince some of her new colleagues.
Concerns have been raised about comments she made after her then-husband was convicted of sexual assault, as well as her political alignment with the left-wing party – with one anonymous MP claiming to be left in tears by her defection.
One Labour MP told the PA news agency: “I think it’s utterly disgraceful.
“She’s totally right-wing and supported her husband when he sexually assaulted women.
“There are Labour MPs still suspended and we’re welcoming MPs who have voted to push people into poverty. I despair.”
Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke, was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and sentenced to two years in prison, serving half of that sentence.
Although she ended the 26-year marriage after his conviction, Ms Elphicke supported his unsuccessful appeal and described the verdict as “a terrible miscarriage of justice”, saying her former partner had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.
Both she and Sir Roger Gale, the MP for North Thanet, were suspended from the Commons for one day after trying to influence a judge who was deciding whether to release character references they had written for Elphicke.
Reacting to Ms Elphicke’s defection, Sir Roger said: “Having given Mrs Elphicke considerable personal support at the time when she most needed it I think it is fair to say that her monumental demonstration of disloyalty to her former friends warrants mild disappointment!
“So far as I can see Mrs Elphicke has absolutely nothing in common with either the old or the ‘re-invented’ Labour Party.
“I would like to think that she will not be dishonourable enough to accept a peerage from Mr Starmer and it will be interesting to see if she has the courage to fight her Dover seat as a socialist.”
And Labour’s Jess Phillips, the former shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said Ms Elphicke should “account for her actions”.
She told ITV’s Peston: “I’m all for forgiveness but I do think that that needs some explaining.”
The branch of the GMB union that represents MPs’ staff said it had requested a meeting with Labour whips “regarding vetting of sitting MPs and candidates”, with branch chairwoman Jenny Symmons describing the decision as “really, really poor and disappointing”.
A year ago, Ms Elphicke used a newspaper column to claim “not only have Labour got no plan of their own to tackle illegal immigration, they simply do not want to” and said Sir Keir “has pledged to rip up our world-leading partnership to remove illegal migrants to Rwanda”.
When asked yesterday about her previous criticism of Labour over immigration policy, Ms Elphicke said Mr Sunak “was the man who said he would stop the boats” but so far this year there had been “record numbers of small boats arrivals”.
“So he’s not stopping the boats and he’s letting the country down,” she continued.
“Meanwhile under Labour, they are clear that it is important to have defence and they want to make sure that they have good national security. So I think we should have confidence that Labour are the party who will tackle this issue of the small boats crossings.”
Labour already has a parliamentary candidate for the constituency in Mike Tapp and reports suggest Ms Elphicke will not be standing at the next election. She says she has not been offered a peerage by Labour.
Political forecasting website Electoral Calculus gives the Conservatives just an 8% chance of winning the Dover and Deal seat.
