Theresa May to defect to Labour?!

[Justkeepswiimming]

I've spotted a few posts on Facebook suggesting there are rumours Theresa May may defect to Labour on Thursday?! I know she's standing down before the next election, so what will the point of this be? Will this even help Labour? Particularly after last week when the Dover MP defected to Labour last week, which wasn't universally applauded, particularly by some Labour mps, particularly bearing in mind her politics. I find it baffling.

I'll believe it when it's on the evening news rather than Facebook.

@jobessieandme Well I do agree, so I suppose we'll see!

Twitter/X is full of it.
It appears that Starmer will have a 'special guest' tomorrow in Essex.

Looking forward to PMQs today though.

Do Labour have to have her? Surely they have some veto?

@VeraForever special guest 🤣 good grief! I suppose an ex Conservative PM leaving the party makes a clear statement about the party.

She's not exactly an obvious fit with Labour, is she.

Although maybe under Starmer's Labour she is!

@cuckyplunt well you'd have thought so, but I can't understand Natalie Elphicke being accepted. Or even what the draw of Labour would be for her!?

I think it is really foolish to believe much you read on FB. You're in a little echo chamber of self-made content, most of which is absolute drivel.

If it were on a sensible news channel I'd give it some credance.

That said, the purpose of defecting in the position of a departing MP is to put pressure on for an election and to signal deep dissatisfaction with the direction of leadership within the party itself.

Charming, I remember her first speech as PM all too well. Pure xenophobia. 😬
She's a Tory through and through.

If they're willing to have Natalie Elphicke, then I guess they're willing to have anyone. Frankly, I'd take Theresa May over Elphicke any day.

I suspect this is hot air and it won't actually happen, but we'll see. Of course, it would be an attention-grabbing headline for Labour if it did happen, but I'm not sure it will do them any favours in the long term. There will be a lot of longstanding Labour supporters starting to question what Starmer's party actually stands for if it starts to fill up with ex-Tories.

No party has to admit anyone where they can find just cause. Previous political statements are a possible cause to reject.

The political benefit of embarrassing the leadership of (in this case) the Conservatives is not to be turned down lightly. It shows division and weak leadership to lose MPs.

A defection in a place like Dover, where Labour hopes to win next time, is appealing to a party. Elphicke is standing down so they only have her for a short time.

As Prime Minister she agreed to bring in gender self-ID. We all had a very narrow escape when she resigned.

I don’t believe the rumour anyway. It seems mad. But then again, so does supporting gender self-ID.

Of course, it would be an attention-grabbing headline for Labour if it did happen, but I'm not sure it will do them any favours in the long term.

Currently no one wins a general election except from the centre because voters see themselves there. If members of the Conservatives leave their party because it is 'too extreme', that indicates the centre is now occupied by Labour.

If you look at the polling, and where Labour is seeking to gain additional seats, accepting defections makes sense now as it has in previous pre-election periods.

Well, she might be a fraction to the left of Attila the Hun. Might.

Anyway, Brexit means Brexit - and as Ian Blackford presciently pointed out after the last election, Labour and Tories are all Brexiteers now and nobody should vote for either.

The Times political correspondent is talking about an event with a "special guest" on Thursday.

People think that if there's another defection, it could be Theresa May because 8 Tory MPs voted with Labour on Monday for their amendment on barring MPs from parliament arrested for serious crimes. It's presumably reasonable to assume that if there is a defection, the person defecting would have voted with Labour on this. Theresa May was one of them.

But of course, it could easily not be a defection, and just a high profile endorsement (or a low profile one being bigged up) - like when the Mark Carney did the little video praising Rachel Reeves for the Labour Party conference.