The inside story of Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke’s defection to Labor

Before Conservative MP Christian Wakeford switched sides to Labor at the height of the Partygate scandal in 2022, it had been 27 years since an MP had directly left the ruling party to join the main opposition party .

Less than two weeks ago, Dan Poulter made the same trip as Mr. Wakeford.

And today – to the amazement and shock of MPs from all parties – Natalie Elphicke sits as a Labor MP.

Indeed, it took a while for MPs to understand what Sir Keir Starmer was talking about during Prime Minister’s Questions when he welcomed Ms Elphicke to his side; few people noticed her sitting behind the Labor leader.

She arrived accompanied by John Healey, the shadow defense secretary – who was said to have been instrumental in wooing her, due to a working relationship they formed over a shared interest in housing.

Ms Elphicke worked in the housing sector before becoming an MP in 2019, while Mr Healey was housing minister in Gordon Brown’s government and followed Labor’s tenure from 2015 to 2020.

Sir Keir and his team are jubilant. They believe there could be few clearer messages to voters motivated by the small boat issue than the MP for Dover – where many of the crossings arrive – declaring that she trusts the Labor leader over Rishi Sunak on this issue.

Remember, this is one of the Prime Minister’s five priorities: an issue at the heart of his attempts to turn around his political predicament.

More broadly, Sir Keir’s allies say the defection will help him make the case directly to ‘big C’ Tories that if a Tory MP as ‘small c’ as Ms Elphicke moves to Labor, they should too .

On the other hand, this is exactly what worries some Labor MPs, who fear that a broad church that could include Ms Elphicke is simply too broad.

Several sources said party whips, responsible for enforcing discipline, had expressed concerns about Ms Elphicke’s admission to the party, although Labor denied this.

It is also worth remembering that some Labor MPs are still angry that Diane Abbott, first elected as a Labor MP in 1983, has not had her post as Labor whip reinstated since April last year , when she was suspended due to allegations of anti-Semitism.

The two previous Conservative defectors were widely praised by Labor MPs: Mr Wakeford was disappointed by Boris Johnson at a time when his character was at the heart of the political debate; Labor MPs appreciated that Mr Poulter had defected specifically on the issue of the NHS.

Ms Elphicke’s cause on immigration and asylum policy is less readily accepted by many Labor MPs – although it is worth noting that she also cited housing, where her views are much more in line with the Labor majority current.

The fact that so many Tory MPs are loudly declaring that they are much less right-wing than Ms Elphicke has not helped to ease the nerves of some Labor MPs.

The truth about Ms. Elphicke’s position on the ideological spectrum is perhaps a little more nuanced.

She was fiercely pro-Brexit and a member of the Eurosceptic European Research Group of Conservative MPs.

Yet even though she has repeatedly castigated the Labor Party for its approach to small boats, she has long maintained that diplomacy with France would be more effective than the Rwandan government’s plan – placing her quite close to the party Labor Party, which opposes this policy.

In 2022, she proposed that all private rents be frozen to help tenants cope with the cost of living, and the following year she took part in a cross-party project to build houses for the homeless.

In February she praised Nye Bevan, one of the heroes of the post-war Labor government, in the House of Commons.

Some of the concerns among Labor MPs are not just about Ms Elphicke’s beliefs, but also about her disorderly arrival into politics.

She has only been an MP since 2019, replacing her then-husband Charlie Elphicke after he was accused of sexual assault. He was later convicted and imprisoned, after which she announced that their marriage was ending.

Despite private rumors of discontent emanating from some quarters of the Labor Party, it is worth noting that few have so far expressed their concerns publicly.

It is the sign of a disciplined Labor Party, with even some of the most skeptical MPs of Sir Keir’s leadership determined not to make it harder to win a general election by making their voices heard.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll forget this episode.

A Labor figure has warned that Sir Keir is “building up ill will” towards the government that most people – including Natalie Elphicke – now assume he will lead.