Labour’s newest MP has apologised for defending her ex-husband and casting doubt on his victims’ testimonies after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two women. Natalie Elphicke, the MP for Dover who defected from the Conservatives on Wednesday, said she condemned Charlie Elphicke’s “behaviour towards other women and towards me”. Elphicke’s defection has thrown the spotlight on her public defence of her ex-husband and predecessor as MP, who was jailed for sexual assault in 2020. She told the Sun in September 2020, shortly after his conviction, that he had suffered “a terrible miscarriage of justice” and that one of his victims was “embarrassingly and gushingly obsessed with him”. She told the newspaper at the time: “Charlie is charming, wealthy, charismatic and successful – attractive, and attracted, to women. All things that in today’s climate made him an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations.” Some Labour MPs have raised concerns about her comments, which she had never previously apologised for. Addressing her remarks in a statement on Thursday, she said: “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.” On her register of parliamentary interests, Elphicke declared that she was paid £25,000 by News UK, the Sun’s parent company, for two articles she wrote for the paper on 2 and 3 August about the impact of her ex-husband’s conviction on her family. A Labour source said that had she received no payment for the interview in September in which she defended her ex-husband. Conservative MPs believe that Labour is in talks with more of their colleagues over further defections relating to policy areas such as education and defence. “Rumours are they want a teacher or someone who worked in education,” one senior Tory MP said. Elphicke said she was quitting the Conservative party because Rishi Sunak was failing on border security. Two weeks ago Dan Poulter, a former health minister, crossed the floor to Labour with a swipe at the government’s record on the NHS.
But Keir Starmer’s decision to admit Elphicke to the party has been controversial among Labour MPs and local grassroots members, also because of her staunch rightwing views while she was a Conservative. Kevin Mills, the Labour leader of Dover district council, told BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday that his reaction to the development was one of “complete shock and – I have to say, to some degree, horror”, and that he had “consistent battles” with her. In a statement on X, Folkestone and Hythe Labour group in Kent said admitting “toxic and divisive” Elphicke as Labour MP would have a “tremendous damage” on the party’s reputation. Senior Tories taunted Labour about the defection. David Cameron, the foreign secretary and former prime minister, said the decision to admit Elphicke showed Labour stood for nothing. “What does this tell us about the party she’s joining? In life, if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything,” he said in response to a question from a reporter.
Penny Mordaunt, the Commons leader, joked to MPs: “I am not about to defect to the opposition benches. They wouldn’t be interested in me, I’m too left wing.” “What next: a photo op with a bulldog? A lecture on how misunderstood Enoch Powell was?” Mordaunt told the Commons. “This is Operation Radish: the concerted effort to convince the British public that while the Labour party might look red on the outside, at its heart it isn’t really at all.” Anneliese Dodds, the party chair, defended the decision to admit Elphicke while Diane Abbott remains suspended and has been under investigation for more than a year. Dodds said she believed Elphicke was a good fit for Labour because her remarks on border security and housing were “absolutely fundamental to the Labour party”. She refused to “go into detail” about why the complaint process in relation to Abbott had taken more than year while Elphicke had been allowed into the party.
In 2021, Elphicke became one of several MPs to be suspended from the Commons and told to apologise for being found to have tried to influence a judge presiding over her former husband’s trial. Questioned on Thursday about Elphicke’s conduct, Dodds said “this was an incredibly serious case” and that Elphicke had been subjected to a “parliamentary process” – but declined to justify her remarks.
Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley and former shadow minister for domestic violence, said she was “shocked” by the defection and that Elphicke should apologise for her comments, which would have been “very painful” to her ex-husband’s victims. Asked about Elphicke’s defence of her then husband, Phillips told ITV’s Peston: “I think she needs to explain it and I think that there is some apologising to be done to victims of those crimes … I’m all for forgiveness but not without contrition.”