Cameron brands Natalie Elphicke’s defection from Tories ‘naked opportunism’ by Labour

Lord Cameron has branded Natalie Elphicke’s defection from the Tories as “naked opportunism” by Labour.

The Foreign Secretary said Labour’s acceptance of the Right-wing Dover MP showed Sir Keir Starmer’s party did not “stand for anything”.

His criticism came amid accusations that Ms Elphicke had lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in the sexual assault trial of her former husband Charlie Elphicke. She has claimed the allegations are “nonsense”, while Labour has questioned why these concerns were not raised at the time of the trial four years ago.

Lord Cameron refused to comment on the claims but told Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “I thought this was just naked opportunism, by Labour as much as anything.

“This is quite a Right-wing Conservative MP suddenly welcomed into the Labour fold having never supported any of their policies, people or approaches. The revealing thing is it was like a moment where you look at the Labour Party and think - if you don’t stand for anything, then you’ll fall for stuff like this.”

He said he was “not a fan of defectors”, adding: “I took over from one in Witney and I think it always leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal, and everything else.”

Second defection in two weeks

Ms Elphicke crossed the floor of the Commons to join Labour at the start of Prime Minister’s Questions last week, accusing the Tories of becoming a “byword for incompetence and division”. The Dover MP cited housing and failure to stop the boats for her decision.

It was the second defection to Labour for Rishi Sunak in less than two weeks, after Dan Poulter also quit the Tories.

On Saturday night, former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland accused Ms Elphicke of wanting him to speak to the judge on the eve of her ex-husband’s trial four years ago for sex assaults on two women. She allegedly wanted the trial date moved to a less high-profile time and questioned whether the senior judge presiding over it would be excessively tough on Mr Elphicke.

Sir Robert told her it would have been “completely inappropriate” to speak to the judge, breaching a constitutional principle that there should be a separation of powers between Parliament and the judiciary.

However, a Labour party spokesman said: “Natalie Elphicke totally rejects that characterisation of the meeting. If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party.”

Mr Elphicke was jailed for two years after being convicted of sexually assaulting the two women. In 2021 Ms Elphicke was suspended from the Commons for a day after lobbying a judge not to publish the identities of MPs who had submitted character references in support of her ex-husband during a pre-sentencing hearing.