Is Natalie Elphike ‘s defection is a poison chalice for Labour?

[Marmaladelover]

She’s one of a small bunch of MPs I really dislike, up there with Rees- Mogg and the one who was baying in the commons( probably more to add to that short list TBH) . Her attitude to refugues , her behaviour in support of P and O ferries when they dismissed all their employees and rehired cheaper ones and her appalling defence of her husband when he sexually assaulted others makes me really wonder why Starmer accepted her into the Labour Party . He should have let her just sit as an independent and not taken her in .

I don’t think her ethos is in chime with the LP . I am , quite frankly, shocked!

They were mad to accept her. Labour seem way more rattled about it than the tories.

I think they accepted her only on the proviso she stepped down, which she is doing.

They're a friendly party but have their limits.

Rumours around of her getting a Peerage too.

That’s even worse @AnneLovesGilbert

No, she herself has said she hasn't been offered a peerage, same with Dan Poulter.

Both of them are standing down at the GE

I will obviously take her word as the truth 😂

Think it's just a way to snub Sunak. The candidates for GE are already selected so she's not going to be there after the GE anyway.

I realise and hope that her presence in the LP will be very short lived and really hope their is no peerage in the bag too.But my point is really it doesn’t make Starmer look good at all. Who the fuck is advising him!

True, and the same applies to rumours.

She is definitely the rat leaving a sinking ship

She has criticised the Cons for not stopping the boats. Let's see how her new party gets on? Won't satisfy her either I suspect.,

I think it's a great move. I don't see Labour losing a vote because of this, and for the people who seem to be obsessed with small boats - this loses the Tories a bunch of credibility when the MP for the place where they're arriving, defects.

Not that she isn't an absolutely horrible person, but it definitely weakens any Tory argument on their supposed strong points.

She basically doesn't have to be massively Labour for the few months that she's got left as an MP as she's going anyway

She is vile, however, this is a two fingers to Sunak and the rest of that party. A visible FO to them all at every parliamentary sitting. And she'll be gone at the GE.

It’s ludicrous. This takes the absolute piss of other (genuine) MPs, party members, supporters, and voters. It’s also not necessary as Labour is so far ahead. It makes no sense. People are being encouraged to vote Labour because but why would voters choose a party that potentially could contain the very same Tories that they are sick of. (Yes I know Elphicke isn’t standing but still)

Terrible judgement Starmer!

There are a lot of political-shenanigans upsides to this beyond the surface level, though.

She's pretty vile, but she's going to be moving back to running housing organisations - which is what she was doing before her husband was charged, and where her views are actually pretty similar to Labour's ethos. Therefore, the Tories are now forced to run a candidate there who'll be unknown locally, and is thus even less likely to be elected.

In the meantime, the Tories' majority in the Commons has almost been halved since the last election. All it'll take is one more scandal, and the opposition parties might actually be able to force an election before the Tories are ready (if they're ever going to be).

Not only that, but the more defections they have, the more the Tories are going to be forced to adopt strategies they don't want to, which is going to further alienate them from the electorate. If the Lib Dems can pull together enough quality candidates, it's even possible that the Tories won't even manage to come second.

Granted, these are all fringe benefits, but they all add up to a headache for the Tories. The more distractions they have, the less effort they'll be able to put into poisoning the well for Labour.

@ntmdino The Cons can easily choose another local candidate. Dover will be fought on immigration so expect a right winger. Or Reform.

Let her defect then open the back door and let the vile creature out!

Well she's gone but she supported Truss and isn't standing for parliament again. So what's on this for Labour is a mystery. It's poor judgement to accept her. It's not standing up for your principles and making a cheap political point.

Well, at least there's a woman on the Labour benches other than Angela Rayner for Rishi and his mates to hurl insults at. It'll make a nice change for everyone.

Labour has far more women MPs than the Conservatives so, no, it won't make a change to have another one there.