The member of Parliament for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, has defected from the Conservatives to Labour, putting yet more strain upon Tory leader and prime minister Rishi Sunak.
In normal circumstances, the rarity of an MP crossing the Parliamentary floor away from the government would be a boon for the opposition party. Far more dramatic, however, is the way Elphicke’s move has caused a huge row within Labour itself.
Leader Sir Keir Starmer grinned through a photo shoot with the woman who accused him just the day before of having “no plan.” Meanwhile Labour MPs attacked the decision to welcome the defection as a “new low.”
Party officials say Elphicke is a ‘far-right’ figure who doesn’t share their values. They are particularly dismayed by her support for the Rwanda plan (designed to deter Channel crossings, by sending asylum seekers and other migrants to the east African nation for processing); a Labour government would scrap this scheme. Meanwhile Elphicke’s 2020 response to sexual misconduct allegations against her now-convicted ex-husband Charlie Elphicke—himself once the Tory MP for Dover—remains controversial.
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock has been one of the most recognisable voices to come out against Starmer’s decision to welcome Elphicke, which also prompted the Socialist Voice newspaper to bash Labour as “a dustbin for right-wing Tories.”
In a strange sense, the whole affair appears to have benefited the Tories. (It has, for now, moved media attention away from them.) Conservative MPs have been more than happy to draw attention to Elphicke’s (not-so) old social media posts, in which she accuses Starmer of “backing people smugglers over the British people.”
Perhaps the fallout has been most embarrassing for Elphicke herself. She has already been forced to apologise for some of her past comments at the urging of her new, not-so-welcoming colleagues, who want her held to “account for her actions.” And the news that her defection came just one day after she sent out leaflets accusing Labour of “backing uncontrolled migration” suggests that her move had more to do with posturing than actual politics.
“People can change their minds,” insists Labour chair Anneliese Dodds. But can they really do so overnight?
Elphicke said she was quitting the Tories in part because Sunak “is failing to keep our borders safe and secure.” This is patently true. But it is just as clear that the likely incoming Labour government will also do nothing to deal with the high levels of migration which they initiated in the first place.
Apathetic onlookers will likely view this media storm as nothing more than a stunt on departure , before Elphicke steps down at the next election. When she does so, it appears that only a small number of MPs will miss her.
