Starmer ‘delighted’ by ex-Tory MP Natalie Elphicke’s defection to Labour
Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to join the Labour Party, with an attack on the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government”.
Elphicke and Labour confirmed the move just minutes before Sunak and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer went head to head at the first Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) following the local elections defeat for the Tories.
Starmer urged Conservative voters to follow the Dover and Deal MP’s example and “get behind” Labour, and said he was “delighted to welcome” her to the party.
“She’s got a strong track record on issues such as housing, she’s on the frontline when it comes to the crisis of small boats,” he said.
“And the reason that she’s given for joining the Labour Party is very, very important because I think she speaks for very many Tory voters in saying that the Tory party has changed, it’s left the centre ground.
“But equally the Labour Party has changed and we are pretty clearly the party of the national interest, of country first, party second. And I look forward to working with her on the mission to deliver the real change that this country desperately needs.”
The move marks the second defection to Labour in under two weeks, after Dan Poulter joined Starmer’s backbenches.
Labour has confirmed they will retain their existing prospective parliamentary candidate, Mike Tapp, in Dover and Deal at the next general election, while it is understood Elphicke will stand down.
A party spokesman said the former Conservative MP could take on an unpaid role working on housing policy with Labour, but denied that she was offered a peerage or job in return for her defection.
“We have talked about her doing a role building on her experience in housing policy,” the spokesman said.
It was put to the spokesman that Elphicke sought to influence a judge in the case of her ex-husband, former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke, who was jailed for sexually assaulting two women.
But he told reporters: “All of those issues have been dealt with previously, both in Parliament and in public.”
On her comment that Mr Elphicke had been punished for being attracted to women, he said: “Natalie can speak to her own remarks on that and she has spoken extensively about that case, and I don’t have anything to add to what she has said on that subject.”
In her defection statement, the Kent MP, said: “When I was elected in 2019, the Conservative Party occupied the centre ground of British politics. The party was about building the future and making the most of the opportunities that lay ahead for our country.
“Since then, many things have changed. The elected Prime Minister was ousted in a coup led by the unelected Rishi Sunak.
“Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division. The centre ground has been abandoned and key pledges of the 2019 manifesto have been ditched.”
And Elphicke praised the “changed Labour Party”, saying that under Starmer it now “occupies the centre ground of British politics… has accepted Brexit and its economic policies and defence policies are responsible and can be trusted”.
She added: “Most significantly for me, the modern Labour Party looks to the future… building a Britain of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness. A Britain everyone can be part of.”
Key factors for her decision, the MP said, were “housing and the safety and security of our borders”.
Sunak’s government, she said, was “failing to keep our borders safe and secure” or to “build the homes we need… renters and leaseholders have been betrayed as manifesto pledges to end no fault evictions and abolish ground rents have not been delivered as promised”.
And she added: “We need to move on from the broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government.
“Britain needs a Government that will build a future of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness.”
Elphicke told reporters: “What I’ve said that I will do and what I’ve been asked to do is to contribute in the area of housing, which has been a longstanding area of experience for me.
“It’s absolutely vital that we build the homes the country needs because under Rishi Sunak we’ve seen housebuilding simply collapse in this last year.
“Going forward, it looks like it’ll be another missed manifesto promise from the Conservatives – not 300,000 homes, but probably half of that number.”