Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to welcome the right-wing MP Natalie Elphicke into the Labour Party yesterday has sparked a major rift in his party as frontbenchers and MPs brief against the “disgusting” defection.
Sir Keir proudly showed off his second Tory MP defection yesterday at PMQs, asking Rishi Sunak: “What is the point of this failed Government staggering on … [when] the Tory MP for Dover, on the frontline of the small boats crisis, says the Prime Minister cannot be trusted with our borders?”
However behind the scenes the news was greeted with disbelief, anger and tears in Labour circles.
Coming as she did from the hard right of the Conservative Party, one shadow minister said: “People are upset and angry right across the party about the decision.”
Another shadow minister told The Guardian: “Logically or politically, we didn’t need this”.
“I worry that they’ll not have done sufficient due diligence on her.
“Her hard-right views are a big red line too. Are we welcoming Nigel Farage next week?”
One Labour MP also said there is “significant anger” among women MPs especially about the decision, complaining: “Most of us on the backbenches struggle to get any contact at all from the Labour leader or his team – perhaps if we were to stand in front of a few more flags or join the ERG?”
A left-wing MP added: “I think many in the party think it’s disgusting, that we don’t need people like that in the Labour party, and that she is absolutely vile.
“Who in their right mind thought this was helpful?”
Meanwhile The Times revealed that Labour’s chief whip, Sir Alan Campbell, was only consulted about Ms Elphicke’s admission to the party “late on”, and even expressed concerns about the political fallout of her joining the Labour benches.
Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader, warned: “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… there are limits.
“Ms Elphicke has got to decide whether she is committed to the programme and principles of the Labour Party.”
This morning, Labour MP Rosie Duffield tweeted frustration that she “seems to be the only Labour MP willing to put my name to quotes yet again.
“Not sure why this is constantly the case when so many of us feel exactly the same on several topical issues? It would be great if colleagues also spoke up…”
