Natalie Elphicke defects to Labour: Dover MP on migrant frontline

Natalie Elphicke shocked Westminster today as she crossed the floor to join Labour with a broadside at her former Tory colleagues over border security.

The 53-year-old has been in the firing line of the migrant crisis as the MP for Dover in Kent, where many of those crossing the Channel in small boats come ashore. 

She was elected in the seat in 2019, replacing her then husband Charlie, who was jailed the following year for sexually assaulting two women. 

Despite the trial hearing about his infidelities during their marriage, she backed him before and after the trial, supporting his appeal and saying her ‘attractive’ spouse had been an ‘easy target’ for false claims because he was ‘charming, wealthy, charismatic and successful’.

With a majority of 12,278 her seat was firmly in Labour’s sights against the backdrop of the ongoing issue of arrivals – although it is changing size and being renamed Dover and Deal at the next election.

She has also been a critic of the plan to send Channel migrants to Rwanda.  But she has also been highly critical of Labour. Just two years ago, when Keir Starmer was already leader, she accused the party of backing ‘fewer and weaker border controls when it comes to illegal arrivals on our shores.’ 

Her defection prompted anger from Tory MPs, with former minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns tweeting: ‘You were a centre right Conservative, Labour want to give asylum to 50,000 plus people.

‘I thought you had more conviction than to join the lefty Labour lot you despised so much!’

Her post contains a screenshot of a headline saying: ‘Don’t trust Labour on immigration they really want open borders, warns Natalie Elphicke.’

She hit the headlines in 2020 after she dumped her self-proclaimed ‘naughty Tory’ husband on Twitter after 25 years of marriage.

Charlie was convicted of three counts of sexual assault in 2020 and admitted to cheating on his wife during his trial.

He was freed on licence after serving half of his two-year prison sentence and after his release the former couple were forced to navigate the difficulties of bringing up their teenage son together.

In January 2022 he was pictured driving a 4×4 with a stony-faced Mrs Elphicke in the passenger seat near her £1.6 million home in Fulham, west London.

It is the first time the pair had been pictured together since they arrived hand-in-hand at court throughout his trial, which culminated in Mrs Elphicke storming out after the verdict.

She later backed a failed appeal against his prison sentence, saying she wanted him to ‘co-parent their teenage son while he was growing up’.

A court heard she also loaned him £100,000 to cover legal costs. 

Writing in the Sun after he was jailed she said: ‘Charlie is charming, wealthy, charismatic and successful — attractive, and attracted to, women. All things that in today’s climate made him an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations.

‘So I resolved to stand by him while he fought off these allegations in court and decided that I would leave him after that. It didn’t quite work out that way.

‘Following an unfair trial during the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe that Charlie was convicted in a terrible miscarriage of justice.

‘It was obvious to me from reading the evidence during lockdown that the criminal allegations against him were complete nonsense, and I still believe they are.’

In 2021 she and four other backbenchers were suspended for trying to influence the judge sentencing her ex.

The Commons Standards Committee recommended that MsElphicke, Sir Roger Gale and Theresa Villiers should be suspended for one day for their actions at the hearing the previous year.

The three, along with fellow Tories Adam Holloway and Bob Stewart, breached the code of conduct through a letters to senior judges that were ‘an attempt improperly to influence judicial proceedings,’ the committee said.

All five wrote to senior members of the judiciary raising concerns that the trial judge was considering publishing positive character references provided for Mr Elphicke by Conservatives politicians.

The former Dover MP was jailed in September 2021, but it was not revealed until the following November that a quintet had provided positive references to the judge at Southwark Crown Court – MPs Gale, Stewart, Holloway and Villiers, plus peer Lord Freud.

That year she was also forced to backtrack after an horrific own goal attack on England star Marcus Rashford over his missed Euro 2020 penalty.

Ms Elphicke suggested the Manchester United star should have practised spot kicks instead of campaigning for free meals for deprived schoolchildren during lockdown.

She made the remark in a Tory MP WhatsApp group after the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 defeat on penalties to Italy at Wembley in the delayed tournament.

Manchester United striker Rashford was one of three England players to miss in the deciding shoot-out in the Three Lions’ first major final in 55 years.

In a message first revealed by GB News, Mrs Elphicke told other Tories: ‘They lost – would it be ungenerous to suggest Rashford should have spent more time perfecting his game and less time playing politics.(sic)’

But today, after her comments were leaked and widely criticised she took to Twitter to heap praise on the team.

‘Last night I shared the frustration and heartbreak of millions of England fans,’ she said.

‘The team gave their all. Congratulations and onwards to the World Cup!’

Ms Elphicke crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before Prime Minister’s Questions.

It allowed Sir Keir to ask Mr Sunak ‘what is the point of this failed Government staggering on’ when ‘the Tory MP for Dover on the front line of small boats crisis says the Prime Minister cannot be trusted with our borders and joins Labour?’.

In a statement announcing her defection she 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.

‘Meanwhile the Labour Party has changed out of all recognition. Since 2019, it has moved on from Jeremy Corbyn and now, 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.

‘Most significantly for me, the modern Labour Party looks to the future – to building a Britain of hope, optimism, opportunity and fairness. A Britain everyone can be part of.’