Defected ex-Tory MP Natalie Elphicke’s worrying voting document

Natalie Elphicke the MP for Dover defected from the Conservative Party to Labour on Wednesday simply earlier than Prime Minister’s Questions blaming Rishi Sunak for the Tories changing into “a byword for incompetence and division”.

Nevertheless it was many within the Labour Celebration who had been left angered by Keir Starmer’s determination to confess the previous Tory into the occasion, with Labour MPs questioning why a rightwinger along with her voting document was admitted and she is going to share the occasion’s values. 

Following Elphicke’s defection, Starmer stated he was “delighted” to welcome her, nonetheless the Guardian reported that one shadow cupboard minister stated his determination had left individuals “upset and offended proper throughout the occasion”. 

One other shadow cupboard member advised Politico that Starmer’s group had made a really poor determination whereas others have questioned why Elphicke was allowed to hitch Labour whereas MPs like Diane Abbott nonetheless have the Labour whip suspended. 

Her hard-right views have apprehensive cupboard members, with one other telling the Guardian, “are we welcoming Nigel Farage subsequent week?”

Labour MP for Birkenhead, Mick Whitley wrote on X: “Natalie Elphicke’s values should not the values of the labour motion.

“It’s outrageous that she needs to be allowed to hitch the Labour benches whereas principled socialists like @HackneyAbbott and @jeremycorbyn nonetheless haven’t had the whip restored.”

A snapshot of her voting document on the web site They Work For You says Elphicke constantly voted in opposition to legal guidelines to advertise equality and human rights, voted in opposition to measures to stop local weather change, voted in opposition to larger taxes on banks and was discovered to usually have voted in opposition to fewer obstacles for entry to abortion.

Her document on commerce unions additionally left a lot to be desired, having voted constantly for extra restrictive rules on commerce union exercise with critics on-line sharing a video of her at a debate on P&O Ferries sacking almost 800 employees, throughout which she attacked commerce unions as she talked of “odious exhausting left militants”.  

Additionally highlighted on-line was the time in 2021, when she steered Marcus Rashford missed a penalty as a result of he spent an excessive amount of time “enjoying politics”. The footballer was campaigning totally free faculty meals which subsequently pressured former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to U-turn on the problem.

Others have re-surfaced the story that she defended her ex-husband after he had been convicted of sexual assault, casting doubt on his victims’ testimonies. She took over his seat as Dover’s MP in 2019 after he was jailed for 2 years. 

Articles she wrote have additionally been re-circulated, together with one for the Day by day Mail titled ‘When will The Left admit that is no refugee disaster… however merely unlawful immigration’ and one other for the Categorical, ‘Don’t belief Labour on immigration they really need open borders’.

Elphicke endorsed Liz Truss and Boris Johnson and beforehand known as Keir Starmer ” Sir softie” over Labour’s border management plans. She has repeatedly criticised Labour for being delicate on migration and untrustworthy on Brexit, which she supported.

In her defection assertion Elphicke stated the Labour Celebration “has modified out of all recognition” and now occupies the “centre floor of British politics”, as she now felt Labour was the occasion “constructing a Britain of hope, optimism, alternative and equity”.

(Picture credit score: David Woolfall / UK Parliament)

Hannah Davenport is information reporter at Left Foot Ahead

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