Natalie Elphicke, the MP for Dover and a ConservativeHome contributor, has defected to Labour. Elphicke succeeded Charlie Elphicke, her then-husband, as the MP for the constituency in 2019. On the new constituency boundaries, Electoral Calculus currently gives the seat a 92 per cent chance of going to Labour.
In a statement, she has blamed her defection on the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government”. She crossed the floor just before Prime Minister’s Questions. She she has “carefully considered the decision” and that the “key deciding factors” were “housing and the safety and security of our borders”.
In her words, the “elected Prime Minister” was “ousted in a coup by the unelected Rishi Sunak” and that, under Sunak, “the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division”. In upholding the legacy of Boris Johnson and reducing immigration, she clearly sees Keir Starmer as better equipped.
Coming so soon after both the local election results and the defection of Dan Poulter, this is another headache for Sunak. It is not immediately clear if, unlike Poulter but like Christian Wakeford, Elphicke intends to stand again at the next election for her new party.
Either way, the Prime Minister will both have an embarrassing PMQs, and wonder how many more MPs might defect before the election.
The post Elphicke defects to Labour appeared first on Conservative Home.
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Author: William Atkinson
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