Tory MP Natalie Elphicke defects to Labour Party
The Conservative MP for Dover since 2019 said Rishi Sunak's government is one of "broken promises" while Labour "looks to the future".
Wednesday 8 May 2024 17:31, UK
Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to the Labour Party.
The Dover MP, who campaigned for Brexit, said the change in the Tory party since she entered parliament in 2019 "has been dramatic and cannot be ignored".
She hit out at the "broken promises of Rishi Sunak's tired and chaotic government", adding that Labour "looks to the future - to building a Britain of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness".
Mrs Elphicke is the second Tory MP to move to the Labour Party in 11 days after former minister Dan Poulter defected to the Opposition.
Part-time NHS doctor Dr Poulter said he could no longer look his NHS colleagues and patients in the eye and remain a Conservative.
Mrs Elphicke, who campaigned for Liz Truss to become PM in 2022, "crossed the floor" to the Labour benches moments before Prime Minister's Questions started on Wednesday at midday, with Tory MPs seen pointing at her.
Sir Keir welcomed Mrs Elphicke to the party in his opening remarks at PMQs and his spokesman later said the newest Labour MP would take an unpaid role working on housing policy.
In a statement announcing her decision, she said the key deciding factors for switching have been "housing and the safety and security of our borders".
She said the Conservative Party in 2019 "occupied the centre ground of British politics" and was about "building the future and making the most of the opportunities that lay ahead for our country".
"Since then, many things have changed," she added.
"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."
She said the Labour Party has also "changed out of all recognition" since then, moving on from Jeremy Corbyn and "under Keir Starmer, occupies the centre ground of British politics".
"It has accepted Brexit and its economic policies and defence policies are responsible and can be trusted," she said.
Mrs Elphicke has previously been highly critical of Sir Keir, hitting out at him for "ignoring the small boats crisis" in January 2023.
In April last year, she wrote an article saying voters should not trust Labour on immigration - one of the key factors she said she was defecting for.
The arrival of asylum seekers in small boats is a major issue in her constituency, with most stepping onto British soil in Dover.
Tory defection helps Labour paint a picture of a hapless government
News broke of another MP defection to Labour just minutes before PMQs began.
Keir Starmer revelled in the news, welcoming Natalie Elphicke to the party in his opening remarks.
She joins Dan Poulter, who also defected from the Conservatives to Labour just weeks ago.
Together with the bruising local elections results over the weekend, Labour are using the defections to paint a picture of a government that has lost the confidence of the public and its own MPs.
The prime minister was helpless. He could only thank the councillors who lost their seats for their service as well as Andy Street, the Tory mayor who lost the West Midlands mayoral contest.
Reaction to Mrs Elphicke's defection from Tories was mainly of disbelief, with one minister telling Sky News it was "laughable and ignominious...a disgrace and a laughing stock".
"I hardly think she has found her spiritual home, she won't be missed," said another Tory MP.
Huw Merriman, Tory MP for Bexhill and Battle, down the coast from Dover, said he was "really taken aback...as I think it's fair to say that she's always been on the right of our party and she's always been outspoken, certainly on immigration and Labour's policies".
He told Sky News: "It just shows a real sort of career opportunistic turn from her, but also that Labour don't seem to have a set of principles either."
"So I was really genuinely staggered by that. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. But I'm sorry also for what it does to politics, because people will not trust politicians if we betray our principles when we look at the opinion polls."
Mrs Elphicke won her seat with 56.9% of the vote after deciding to stand in Dover following her now ex-husband, Charlie Elphicke, being suspended from the Conservative Party and not standing for re-election when he was charged with three counts of sexual assault against two women.
He was found guilty of all counts and sentenced to two years in prison.