A bizarre, cynical coup that raises yet more questions over Sir Keir Starmer’s judgment
AS an obscure Tory MP, Natalie Elphicke was never destined for greatness. But she has certainly made an ugly mark on British politics with one of the most bizarre and cynical defections in recent Westminster history.
Having only been in the Commons since 2019, she was widely seen as an uncompromising Right-winger, reflected not only in her tough stances on immigration and Brexit, but also the ferocity of her criticisms of Labour.
The anti-EU Conservative organisation, the ERG, of which she was a member, seemed her natural home.
“I did not realise there was any room to her Right,” said one Conservative MP.
But yesterday she caused astonishment across the political landscape with her announcement that she had defected to Sir Keir Starmer’s party.
It was as if Nicola Sturgeon had signed up for the English Defence League or Jean-Claude Juncker had joined the Temperance movement.
Because Westminster is such a tribal place, defectors always attract hostility.
Even though the central aim of the political process is to persuade key voters to change their minds, politicians who change their own views or allegiances are regarded with deep distrust for breaking the code of loyalty that underlies the party system.
But Elphicke is attracting condemnation from members of both the main parties that is far beyond the usual level of antipathy.
That is because, in the light of her record, her move is so unconvincing. It looks as desperate as it is opportunistic. This is an MP who in November 2022 tweeted: “Labour’s solution to tackle the cost of living? Grabbing more in taxes from the pockets of millions of hard-working British people. Same old Labour.”
Over the years, she has also called Keir Starmer “confused and muddled”, accused Labour of being “unpatriotic” and denounced the party’s stance on veterans as “disgraceful and inexcusable”. Some of her fiercest attacks have been over immigration.
In one article in this newspaper, she wrote: “Don’t trust Labour on immigration. They really want open borders.”
It is language like that which makes a mockery of any claim that her defection is motivated by principle.
Yesterday, she criticised Rishi Sunak for his failures on border policy, but the idea that Labour will take a tougher approach is just laughable.
Has she forgotten that some of her new colleagues on the opposition benches have even fought to stop the deportations of serious foreign criminals – and have eagerly blocked every
measure that attempts to hinder crossings of the English Channel by small boats?
Elphicke was enjoying her moment in the limelight yesterday, while Starmer, oozing smug triumphalism, thought he had pulled off another coup, after the defection a fortnight ago of Suffolk MP and doctor Dan Poulter.
But in this case, the manoeuvre may have backfired, precisely because of Elphicke’s hardline outlook, which makes it absurd of her to pose as some kind of centrist.
Many in Labour’s ranks are also questioning whether Elphicke is really the sort of MP they want in their party. One member of Labour’s ruling National Executive described the episode as “a new low for Starmer”, while an MP said it “has gone down like a cup of sick”.
More elegantly, former Labour leader Lord Kinnock declared that “Labour is a broad church but churches have walls and there are limits”.
One of the most pertinent complaints against Starmer is that he has made time to host Elphicke but has shunned Rosie Duffield, the brave Labour MP for Canterbury who has been a lone voice for women’s rights against the transgender ideological juggernaut.
“At least one woman from Kent got a meeting,” said Duffield waspishly as she responded to the chummy photo of Starmer with Elphicke.
What he thought was a coup has turned into another question mark against Sir Keir’s judgment.
‘Labour is a broad church... but churches have walls and there are limits’