Natalie Elphicke apologised for backing her ex-husband when he was convicted of sexual assaults today as Keir Starmer tries to quell a furious backlash.
The Dover MP, who dramatically defected from the Tories yesterday, said she was ‘sorry’ for remarks in which she suggested Charlie Elphicke had been ‘targeted’ by his victims.
In a statement, she also insisted she had not taken the decision to switch sides ‘lightly’ and genuinely believed the country needed Sir Keir in No10.
A jubilant Sir Keir unveiled Ms Elphicke as his latest recruit in a moment of high drama at PMQs yesterday, insisting it showed Rishi Sunak‘s government was crumbling.
But the stunt immediately threatened to backfire as Labour figures expressed outrage that the Dover MP – previously regarded as on the hardline end of the Conservatives – did not share the party’s ‘values’.
One NEC member complained about becoming a ‘dustbin’ for Tory right-wingers, while even Lord Kinnock, normally a staunch supporter of Sir Keir, warned he must be ‘choosy’ and ‘there are limits’.
Birkenhead MP Mick Whitley said it was ‘outrageous’ Ms Elphicke was allowed to join Labour when Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn remain suspended.
Ms Elphicke has said she does not intend to stand for election again in Dover, but a Labour spokesman said she could be given an unpaid role advising the party on housing.
It was the second Tory defection to Labour in a fortnight, following the switch by former minister Dan Poulter last week.
Labour chair Anneliese Dodds struggled in interviews this morning as she was asked how Ms Elphicke can be a Labour MP when Ms Abbott is still in the cold amid an investigation into comments relating to anti-semitism.
Keir Starmer is struggling to contain mounting Labour fury over the defection of Natalie Elphicke (pictured together yesterday)
Birkenhead MP Mick Whitley said it was ‘outrageous’ Ms Elphicke was allowed to join Labour when Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn remain suspended
A jubilant Sir Keir unveiled Ms Elphicke as his latest recruit in a moment of high drama at PMQs yesterday, insisting it showed Rishi Sunak’s government was crumbling
Ms Elphicke said today: ‘My decision to join the Labour Party is not one I have taken lightly but one I made because I am convinced that this country needs a new government led by Keir Starmer to fix the problems we see from housing to small boats.
‘I always knew that this decision would put a spotlight on the prosecution of my ex-husband and I want to address some of the commentary around this head on.
‘The period of 2017 – 2020 was an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew. I know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him.
‘I have previously, and do, condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. It was right that he was prosecuted and I’m sorry for the comments that I made about his victims.
‘It is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system and our rates of prosecution and conviction are far too low as a country.
‘Keir Starmer’s mission to halve male violence against women and girls is critical and I wanted to take the opportunity to express my explicit support for Labour colleagues working to realise it.’
During interviews this morning, Ms Dodds told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Look, I have enormous respect for Diane Abbott, she was an absolute trailblazer, and of course we set out those proposals for a new race equality act some weeks ago when I was really privileged to have been able to discuss those with her.
‘But, as I have said before, we have got a process, there is an independent one that does operate without fear or favour, and that is quite right.
‘It is not one that is subject to political influence, nor indeed should it be.’
She refused to ‘go into detail’ about why Ms Abbott’s complaint process has taken more than year, but Ms Elphicke has been admitted into the Labour Party.
Ms Elphicke was condemned by former colleagues on the Tory benches, with rail minister Huw Merriman branding her a ‘shameless opportunist’. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said this morning that it was a ‘very odd fit’ and played down fears of more defections, saying she believed most of her colleagues were ‘more principled than that’.
However, Sir Keir also faced a backlash over his decision to embrace an MP who had branded him ‘Sir Softie’ over his stance on immigration and who defended her former MP husband when he was convicted of sexual assault.
One Labour MP said: ‘I think it’s utterly disgraceful.
‘She’s totally right-wing and supported her husband when he sexually assaulted women.
‘There are Labour MPs still suspended and we’re welcoming MPs who have voted to push people into poverty. I despair.’
Jess Phillips, a former shadow minister, said Ms Elphicke should ‘account for her actions’.
She told ITV’s Peston: ‘I’m all for forgiveness but I do think that that needs some explaining.’
The branch of the GMB union that represents MPs’ staff said it had requested a meeting with Labour whips ‘regarding vetting of sitting MPs and candidates’, with branch chairwoman Jenny Symmons describing the decision as ‘really, really poor and disappointing’.
Another MP said she had been left in tears by the news of Ms Elphicke’s defection.
Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock warned Sir Keir he should be ‘choosy’ when deciding whether to accept defectors known to have hardline Right-wing views.
He told the BBC: ‘As far the party is concerned more generally, I think we have got to be choosy to a degree about who we allow to join our party because it’s a very broad church but churches have walls and there are limits.’
Jess Phillips, a former shadow minister, said Ms Elphicke should ‘account for her actions’
At least one female Labour MP is reported to have made a formal complaint to party whips about the decision.
Labour MPs privately voiced fears about Sir Keir’s decision to welcome Ms Elphicke. One said: ‘There is a lot of concern about whether we have done our due diligence on this one.’
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell branded the move a ‘political stunt’ and warned it could backfire as Ms Elphicke has held views on issues like immigration ‘which I don’t think the party should be associated with’.
He told LBC Radio: ‘I’m a great believer in the powers of conversion, but I think even this one would have strained the generosity of spirit of John the Baptist.’
Mish Rahman, a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, said: ‘From Starmer’s decision today, he wants Labour to be a dustbin for (right-wing) Tory politicians who have inflicted colossal damage on our country. I’d rather beat every Tory… instead Starmer wants them in his Parliamentary party.’
In a lengthy statement, Ms Elphicke said Labour had undergone ‘dramatic’ change and was now the party of the centre ground while the Conservatives had become ‘a byword for incompetence and division’.
She also accused the Government of failing to stop the boats, adding: ‘It’s clear they have failed to keep our borders secure and cannot be trusted.’
Dover MP on the frontline of Channel migrant crisis who replaced jailed ‘naughty Tory’ ex-husband Charlie in Commons and criticised Marcus Rashford over free school meals campaign during Euros
Natalie Elphicke shocked Westminster 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.
Labour has confirmed that she is standing down 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.’
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.
Ms Elphicke clashed with protesters gathered in support of sacked P&O Ferry workers at Dover in Kent -after arriving to support them.
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 £1.6million 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.
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)’
Rashford was made an MBE in October 2020 in recognition of his work in feeding underprivileged children, which included forcing Boris Johnson into a U-turn over providing free school meal vouchers for 1.3million kids during the summer holidays.
After her comments were leaked and widely criticised she took to Twitter to heap praise on the team.
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.’