Keir Starmer ignores Labour fury at occasion with Natalie Elphicke

Keir Starmer dismissed ‘tribal’ Labour fury over Natalie Elphicke’s defection today as he paraded her at a speech.

Sir Keir was introduced by his new MP as he pushed his plans for a ‘Border Security Command’ to tackle the Channel boats crisis during a visit her Dover constituency.

‘It’s fantastic to be in your constituency, welcome to the Labour Party,’ he said.

Sir Keir said Ms Elphicke’s switch showed ‘we’ve got a Tory party that is on its last legs… it’s out of ideas’, urging people to be ‘less tribal in our pursuit of a better country’.

He said he would get rid of the Rwanda deportation scheme ‘straight away’, branding it a ‘dead horse’ despite mounting signs it is having a deterrent effect.

The body will bring together key agencies including MI5, the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service. It would mark the first time that MI5 agents have been deployed in this way on the problem.Sir Keir insisted that the issue of boat crossings must be tackled ‘upstream’, mocking Rishi Sunak for trying to ‘build a wall’ in the Channel. Highlighting his experience as a former Director of Public Prosecutions, he said that there should also be new counter-terror style powers to shut off internet access and close bank accounts of suspected people-smugglers.’We will secure Britain’s borders. And we will also rebuild Britain’s broken asylum system,’ Sir Keir said.  

However, Government sources dismissed the plans for ‘yet another Labour quango’ as a ‘rearranging of the bureaucratic deckchairs’.

And they demanded to know where  

Sir Keir said he had ‘smashed’ terrorist gangs as head of the CPS and could do the same to smuggling gangs.

‘I dragged my party away from the allure of gesture politics. And I will do the same for Westminster,’ he said. 

Ms Elphicke’s dramatic crossing of the floor at PMQs on Wednesday has caused shockwaves through Labour.

She was considered on the right of the Tories, and previously slammed the Labour leader as ‘Sir Softie’ for his approach to Channel migration.

Sir Keir trumpeted the defection as evidence that Labour has broad appeal and can take on the Conservatives in their own core issues. Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting boasted overnight that the party is talking to more prospective switchers on the government benches, with Dan Poulter already having made the change a fortnight ago.

However, critics have accused Sir Keir of turning the party into a ‘dustbin’ for Conservative right-wingers – while even normally staunch supporter Lord Kinnock has warned he needs to be careful who to accept.

Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy suffered an awkward moment on the BBC’s Question Time last night when the audience was asked whether Ms Elphicke was an ‘asset’ to her party and no-one put their hand up. 

Sir Keir’s allies have been stressing that Ms Elphicke is not standing for re-election in Dover and will not have a frontbench role or be handed a peerage. 

Yesterday Ms Elphicke issued an apology for comments in which she appeared to blame victims after her husband Charlie Elphicke, whom she succeeded as Dover MP, was convicted of sexual assualt.   

Labour said its new Border Command would be bolstered by new counter- terror powers to smash the smuggling gangs.

A former police, military or intelligence chief will be appointed to lead the body and report to the Home Secretary.

Labour also said it would hire hundreds of specialist investigators, intelligence agents and cross-border police officers to work across the UK and Europe to protect the border.

The plans will be paid for by redirecting £75million of the allocated costs for the Rwanda scheme, which Labour has repeatedly vowed to scrap – even if it is working. Sir Keir is expected to be joined for the speech by his party’s newest MP, Natalie Elphicke, who defected from the Tories on Wednesday.

She accused Rishi Sunak of failing to deliver on his promise to stop the boats, but her shock move caused a major backlash in opposition circles.

The Labour leader will say his plan replaces ‘gimmicks with graft’, and he will accuse the Tories of overseeing a ‘talk tough, do nothing culture’ that has led to record numbers of small boat arrivals. But last night Home Secretary James Cleverly said Sir Keir’s ‘big new idea is an amnesty’.

Labour has previously said it will overturn the Government’s asylum ban by considering the claims of all those who have entered the UK illegally since March last year.

Mr Cleverly said: ‘Rather than starting the flights and stopping the boats, Sir Keir Starmer’s big new idea is an amnesty for all illegal immigrants.’

A source close to the Home Secretary likened the plans to a ‘rearranging official deck chairs to create a quango directed to do work they’ve already been doing under this Government’.

The source added: ‘He’s setting himself up as a Labour King Canute claiming his hollow words can stop the waves. Meanwhile this Government will continue working to stop the boats.’

Sir Keir will declare it is his ‘firm belief’ that ‘we also need new and stronger powers to enforce the law and bring these smugglers to justice’.

He will say: ‘I know we use the term small boats, but these boats are not, for the most part, that small.

‘The gangs now use dinghies on a scale way beyond anything you would see for legitimate recreational activity. We should be working with our European partners to seize those boats, and seize material here in the UK to collect further evidence.

‘We should turn over every stone and use every reasonable power – that is my message to the smugglers: these shores will become hostile territory for you.’

A total of 8,826 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year, provisional Home Office figures show. This is up 32 per cent on this time last year, when 6,691 migrants were recorded, and a 14 per cent rise compared with the same period in 2022 (7,750).