Natalie Elphicke's Labour Defection Has Everyone Pulling Up Receipts Of Her Voting Record
Ex-Tory MP Natalie Elphicke’s defection to Labour today has raised several eyebrows – not least because of her own, deeply divisive, voting record.
While she will still be standing down at the next general election, the move has triggered an intense reaction.
The second Tory to cross the floor in less than two weeks, Elphicke accused PMRishi Sunak of “failing to keep our borders safe” and of “incompetence and division”.
However, the now-Labour MP for Dover has been accused of stoking division herself since she was elected in 2019 – and social media was not going to let her forget that today.
People pulled up articles she has written in the past, such as one from 2022 for The Mail on Sunday titled: “When will the Left admit this is no refugee crisis...but simply illegal immigration.”
Another for the Express, published in April 2023, said: “Don’t trust Labour on immigration, they really want open borders.”
Her claim that migrants use razor blades to cut fingers and avoid identification also resurfaced.
Welcome to the Labour party Natalie Elphicke! pic.twitter.com/T70Zv6jNmj
— James Heale (@JAHeale) May 8, 2024
Keir Starmer just welcomed hard-right, anti-migrant Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke into the Labour party.
Some highlights from her recent record pic.twitter.com/nQYF1IW4SL— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 8, 2024
The Sunday Times’ Gabriel Pogrund posted a thread on X (formerly Twitter) explaining how Elphicke reacted after her now ex-husband – ex-MP Charlie Elphicke – was convicted as a sex offender.
Natalie Elphicke, who has just been welcomed to the Labour Party by Sir Keir Starmer, cruelly and publicly tormented the victims of her sex offender ex-husband Charlie.
She claimed ***after his conviction*** that he had merely been punished for being "attractive and attracted"…— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) May 8, 2024
Others recalled her spat with footballer Marcus Rashford, when the MP suggested he should stop “playing politics” after he missed a penalty at the Euro 2020 final.
It came after Rashford’s campaign to offer free school meals forced Boris Johnson to U-turn.
Elphicke did later apologise for these comments.
Tory MP Natalie Elphicke has defected to the Labour party.
Here she is in 2021 suggesting Marcus Rashford missed a penalty because he spent too much time pursuing free school meals. pic.twitter.com/KrTVdUsoj0— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) May 8, 2024
Elphicke also caused a stir in 2022 when she said she was heckled by “hard-left militants” at a demonstration against mass firings at P&O ferries.
In 2022 Natalie Elphicke used a debate on P&O sacking 800 workers & replacing them with cheaper foreign workers as an opportunity to attack trade unions.
She's just become a Labour MP.pic.twitter.com/aDabifeeHm— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 8, 2024
According to the website, They Work For You, she has “consistently voted against laws to promote equality and human rights”, against “measures to prevent climate change” and against “improving air quality”.
She has also voted against “fewer obstacles for access to abortion” and for a stricter asylum system.
Why is Labour allowing people like Natalie Elphicke into their party?
Her voting record here https://t.co/QNsVn1QReB— Gina Miller (@thatginamiller) May 8, 2024
She has also been a keen advocate of the Rwanda Act – which Labour says it will repeal if it gets into office.
"It is absolutely vital that we speed up these deportations and give effect to the new Rwanda agreement..."
- Natalie Elphicke, Labour MPpic.twitter.com/TBf1V9WWfF— Stats for Lefties 🍉🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) May 8, 2024
There were also plenty of posts simply expressing dismay at her defection...
Natalie Elphicke tried defecting to me first but I said no. I’m taking the trash out, not in. #PMQs
— Count Binface (@CountBinface) May 8, 2024
She's my MP and I think Starmer has made a big error of judgement accepting this right wing politician.
— Paul Duthoit #FBPE (@PaulDuthoit) May 8, 2024
If one Tory MP defected each week - the current rate of attrition - the Conservatives would lose their majority by the 2nd October (in 21 weeks time).
— Best for Britain (@BestForBritain) May 8, 2024