SHOCK enveloped both major political parties today as one of the most right-wing Tory MPs crossed the floor of the Commons to join Labour.
Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover & Deale, threw both parties into chaos after she announced her conversion to Labour under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
It further rocked PM Rishi Sunak’s already divided and demoralised Tories, the more so since Ms Elphicke claimed that Labour had better policies on stopping refugees entering the country, a major issue for Conservative strategists.
And it split Labour wide open too, with many MPs and activists less than enthused by the party’s newest recruit.
Ms Elphicke has been notorious for her hardline views on immigration.
One Tory MP tweeted today that it was impossible to find a Conservative in the Commons who regarded themselves as further to the right and many were outraged at her hypocrisy.
Succeeding her husband Charlie in the Dover seat after he was convicted of sex offences, she attacked her husband’s victims and was suspended from the Commons because she had “improperly sought to influence judicial proceedings” in relation to the case.
Yet Labour offered the warmest welcome to Ms Elphicke, the second Tory MP to join Labour in as many weeks and the third over this parliament.
“Here is someone who is willing to make the significant step of switching across to Keir Starmer’s changed Labour Party, and that’s something we’re very happy to see,” a spokesman said, brushing aside concerns about her luridly right-wing past.
Such views were not widely shared within the party. Labour women were reported as particularly uneasy and a spokesman for campaign group Momentum said: “This hard-right Tory should have no place in a Labour Party worthy of the name.
“It speaks volumes about Keir Starmer that he is welcoming her with open arms, while leaving Diane Abbott out in the cold.”
And Labour national executive member Jess Barnard said: “It always amazes me how some people in Labour never develop their politics beyond being ‘anti-Tory,’ yet they are usually the same people who welcome the worst of the worst Tories into our party with open arms.”
Former Momentum chair Hilary Schan, who left Labour at the weekend to join the group We Deserve Better, commented: “Starmer's welcoming of a hard-right Tory who has demonised refugees and undermined the fight against sexual harassment is a new low. Far from offering real change to the Tories, Labour are simply offering a new iteration.”
SNP MP Peter Grant said that Ms Elphicke “wanted to join the Labour Party because she thinks Keir Starmer is politically closer to Boris Johnson than Rishi Sunak is. And Labour think it’s something to be proud of.”
Ms Elphicke said: “The Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division.
“Meanwhile the Labour Party has changed out of all recognition.
“Under Keir Starmer, its economic policies and defence policies are responsible and can be trusted.”
She is not standing for re-election in Dover and will advise Labour on housing policy.
