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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is facing a deepening backlash over the defection of Tory MP Natalie Elphicke to his party, with one colleague describing a “deep sense of betrayal” over the surprise move.
Rosie Duffield, Labour MP for Canterbury, questioned the wisdom of recruiting the MP for Dover, who on Sunday was accused of lobbying ministers over her then-husband Charlie Elphicke’s sexual assault case in 2020.
“I think most of us would rather have more left-leaning colleagues than somebody who’s never supported the aims and value of the Labour party,” Duffield told BBC Radio 4 on Sunday. “I think like most Labour backbenchers that I’ve spoken to, there’s a mix of fury and bafflement and a deep sense of betrayal.”
Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley and a former shadow minister, told Sky News that seeing Elphicke cross from the Tory to the Labour benches in the House of Commons felt “a bit like being punched in the gut”.
Starmer appeared triumphant in the Commons during Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday as he revealed the second such defection in two weeks.
He suggested it proved the increasingly wide political appeal of the main opposition party, which has a roughly 20-point lead in opinion polls ahead of the general election expected this year.
But Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, said Elphicke had belonged to the European Research Group of hardline Tory Brexiters, was at odds with trade unions and “not great” on environmental issues. “So unless she’s had the biggest Damascene conversion ever I’m just not buying it, and it’s concerning as well,” Sultana told the BBC on Sunday.
Sultana said female Labour MPs were particularly concerned about their new colleague’s behaviour four years ago in relation to the trial and conviction of her then husband Charlie Elphicke.
On Sunday Sir Robert Buckland, Tory former justice secretary, confirmed a report in the Sunday Times newspaper that Elphicke met him before her husband’s July 2020 trial and urged him to ask the judiciary to move it from Southwark Crown Court in central London, in an apparent attempt to limit publicity. Buckland refused to consider the requests, calling them a “constitutional outrage”.
“She was told in no uncertain terms it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all,” he said. One person close to Buckland, who served as justice secretary between 2019 and 2021, said he had “never had anything like it” during his tenure.
However, the Labour party said: “Natalie Elphicke totally rejects that characterisation of the meeting. If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour party.”
Asked by Sky News if he believed Elphicke’s denial, shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said on Sunday: “She said it’s nonsense and not her interpretation of the meeting.”
The Sunday Times also reported claims that Sir Mark Spencer, then the Tory chief whip, later refused a request from Elphicke to arrange another meeting with Buckland so that she could raise concerns about the quality of her husband’s pillows in prison.
A spokesperson for Natalie Elphicke described that claim as “nonsense”, adding: “It’s certainly true that Mr Elphicke continued to be supported after his imprisonment by a large number of Conservative MPs who had known him for a long time, including some who visited him and independently lobbied on his behalf, which was nothing to do with Natalie.”
Natalie Elphicke became MP for Dover in December 2019, after her then husband stood down from the role after being charged with sexual assault. They have since divorced.
In late 2020, Elphicke was criticised by the office of the lord chief justice of England and Wales for an “improper” attempt to influence a judge hearing the trial of her then husband.
In 2021, Elphicke was among a trio of MPs handed a one-day suspension from parliament by the Commons standards committee in relation to their attempts to influence the judge.
On Thursday Elphicke apologised for saying in an interview after her then husband’s conviction that he was an “easy target” for false allegations because he was “attractive”. She will step down at the general election.
Ashworth said Elphicke’s defection pointed to the “disintegration and decay” in the Conservative party ahead of the election. “Natalie Elphicke, like Conservatives across the country, are coming over to the Labour party, that’s a good thing,” he said.
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