Starmer welcomes Natalie Elphicke's defection to Labour
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Labour’s newest MP Natalie Elphicke has been forced to apologise for the role she played in defending her ex-husband both during and after he was imprisoned for sexual assault.
The Tory defector defended her ex-MP spouse, Charlie, after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years.
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Ms Elphicke argued he had merely been “attractive, and attracted to, women” and that made him “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”. She claimed he had been the victim of a “terrible miscarriage of justice”.
She was then temporarily suspended from the House of Commons and told to apologise in 2021 after being found to have tried to influence a judge presiding over Mr Elphicke’s trial.
In a statement this afternoon, Ms Elphicke said she is sorry for her comments and blamed her actions from 2017 to 2020 on stress.
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READ MORE: Keir Starmer risks major shadow cabinet split after accepting Tory MP defector
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Sir Keir Starmer was delighted at the defection, but it split opinion in Labour (Image: Getty)
She has 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 2017-20 was an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learnt 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.”
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Keir Starmer's welcome for Natalie Elphicke sparked fury among Labour MPs (Image: Getty)
Asked about Ms Elphicke’s role in her husband’s legal battle yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said all those issues “have been dealt with previously both in Parliament and in public”.
Asked how Labour could square its commitment to protecting women and girls from violence and their decision to admit Ms Elphicke into their ranks, the spokesman said Ms Elphicke answer for herself and he had nothing further to add.
Sir Keir’s decision to welcome the Right-wing MP into Labour yesterday sparked a major rift in his party, as frontbenchers and MPs briefed against the "disgusting" defection.
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.”
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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.
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“Who in their right mind thought this was helpful?”
This morning, Labour MP and women's rights campaigner Rosie Duffield tweeted frustration that she “seems to be the only Labour MP willing to put my name to quotes yet again".
She added: “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.”
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