New Labour MP Natalie Elphicke has apologised for defending her ex-husband after he was found guilty of sexual assault.
Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke, was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years.
She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Mr Elphicke had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.
Ms Elphicke defected to Labour on Wednesday, crossing the floor of the Commons at the beginning of prime minister’s questions.
There is growing backlash to the move amid Labour MPs, one female Labour MP telling The Independent there was a “collective rage” against Sir Keir over the decision to admit her.
But some Labour members have backed their newest MP, with party chair Anneliese Dodds saying she is a “natural fit” for the party, despite her previous criticism.
On Thursday in emerged that Ms Elphicke had sent out a leaflet attacking the Labour Party just a day before defecting to become a Labour MP.
Natalie Elphicke apologises for comments in support of ex-husband
Tory defector Natalie Elphicke has issued an apology after she made comments in support of her ex-husband.
In a new statement, she said: “My decision to join the Labour Party is not one I have taken lightly but one I made because I am convinced that this country needs a new government led by Keir Starmer to fix the problems we see from housing to small boats.
“I always knew that this decision would put a spotlight on the prosecution of my ex-husband and I want to address some of the commentary around this head on.
“The period of 2017 – 2020 was an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew. I know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him.
“I have previously, and do, condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. It was right that he was prosecuted and I’m sorry for the comments that I made about his victims.
“It is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system and our rates of prosecution and conviction are far too low as a country.
“Keir Starmer’s mission to halve male violence against women and girls is critical and I wanted to take the opportunity to express my explicit support for Labour colleagues working to realise it.”
In full: Who is Natalie Elphicke’s ex-husband?
The new Labour MP has been target of criticism for defending her former husband following sexual assault allegations.
- The disgraced former Tory member chaired the Dover constituency from 2010 to 2019.
- He had his whip removed after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women.
- According to court documents, he chased one of the victims around his home chanting “I’m a naughty Tory”.
- He was later slapped with two years in prison.
‘Tories can learn from Lammy.’ says pro-Trump think tank
The Legatum Institute has told Rishi Sunak and the Tories to learn lessons from Labour’s shadow foreign secretary after he made another successful trip to Washington DC ahead of what many think will be a Labour general election victory.
Here’s the full story:
Rishi Sunak vows to keep Jewish students safe
The Prime Minister has promised to protect Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests across British universities.
Posting on X, he announced Downing Street will work with university bosses to “tackle antisemitism”.
It comes after Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) urged university leaders to take “swift and decisive action” to protect Jewish students.
Tories hit lowest poll rating since Liz Truss
A New YouGov poll suggests Conservatives would hold on to just 13 seats at next general election.
The poll, carried out for The Times, showed Labour on 48 per cent and the Conservatives on 18 per cent – just five points ahead of Reform UK among people who said they would vote and expressed a preference.
‘My mistakes have been mine’: Nadhim Zahawi, the former Tory rising star now on his way out of Westminster
Nadhim Zahawi, born into an influential Kurdish family, came to the UK fleeing persecution when they fell foul of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Once touted as a rising star of the party, he was praised for his role as vaccines minister during the rollout of jabs during the Covid-19 pandemic and by July 2022 had been promoted to chancellor by then-prime minister Boris Johnson.
Watch: Tory minister defends Sunak’s poor election results: ‘We have a positive agenda’
The Conservative Party suffered its worst electoral defeat in years last week, losing more than half of its councillors who stood for re-election across England.
The energy secretary defended the Conservative Party’s results when she appeared on ITV’s Peston show on Wednesday night (8 May) and was asked if the prime minister should change his plans.
What does Natalie Elphicke’s defection to Labour mean for the Tories?
As Rishi Sunak loses his second MP in two weeks to the opposition benches, Sean O’Grady looks at the history of high-profile defections – and at what this one says about the state of the Conservative Party.
Rosie Duffield urges Labour MPs to ‘speak up’ about Natalie Elphicke defection
“It would be great if colleagues also spoke up,” she said. Ms Duffield said on Wednesday that Labour MPs were “baffled” by her “really peculiar” move to swap sides.
In full: What has Natalie Elphicke said?
New Labour MP Natalie Elphicke has come under fire for comments she made in 2020 after her ex-husband was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women.
Charlie Elphicke was convicted to two years in prison.
At the time, she said in an interview with The Sun : “I could tell immediately he had a genuine and true infatuation with the woman despite him saying he wasn’t attracted to her.
“I said, ‘You’ve had another affair.’ In a way for me, that was worse than having a sexual relationship with someone.
“It was just awful. The case has been really unpleasant, horrible, upsetting and humiliating.”
