PMQs sketch: Rishi Sunak capsized by defecting Dover MP Natalie Elphicke as Labour celebrates election wins

Rishi Sunak was stood beside the Speaker’s chair, his foot tapping the green carpet as he waited to take his place for PMQs, when he glanced across to the Labour benches.

In the Prime Minister’s eyeline was sat an unwelcome surprise.

Sir Keir Starmer had pulled off a proper ambush in getting a second Conservative MP to defect in a fortnight, days after the Tories lost 474 councillors in English local elections.

First up had been Dan Poulter, a doctor and MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich who joined Labour in anger over the Government’s handling of the NHS.

Now it was the turn of Dover MP Natalie Elphicke, who was occupying a new perch directly behind Sir Keir in the Commons. Staring at her with disbelief, and no little anger, was Jonathan Gullis, who as Tory deputy chairman fills the role of Mr Sunak’s chief attack dog.

In a blistering statement announcing her move, Ms Elphicke condemned the Prime Minister’s handling of the small boats crisis and called for a general election to “move on from the broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic Government”.

Helpfully, that was very much her new leader’s pitch as Sir Keir laid into the PM about the local elections, which included a third consecutive defeat for the Conservatives in the London mayoral election when Sadiq Khan romped home against Susan Hall.

The Labour leader said: “He’s also lost 1,500 Tory councillors [over successive elections], half of his party’s mayors and a leadership election to a lettuce. How many more times do the public and his own MPs need to reject him before he takes the hint?”

Mr Sunak ruefully acknowledged the losses from last Thursday, which included Andy Street, the Tory mayor of West Midlands, but tried to turn defence to attack.

“Great leaders like Andy Street who leave behind a strong legacy of more homes, more jobs, and more investment, in sharp contrast to the legacy left by the last Labour government, which was a letter joking that there was no money left,” he said.

In a non-answer to a question about the small boats, Mr Sunak disputed Sir Keir’s boasts of a “changed Labour Party” as he alleged that Mr Khan had posited “an equivalence between the brutal terrorist attack of Hamas and Israel defending itself”.

The Labour Mayor’s camp retorted that in his comments to the Daily Telegraph after he was sworn in for a third term at City Hall, Mr Khan had said “you’ve got to show equivalence” by condemning “all killing of innocent civilians”, no matter by whom.

The PM was all too obviously circumventing the fact that migrants are still crossing the Channel despite the passage of his Rwanda deportation act. Forced to answer when the question about rising numbers this year was posed again, he pointed to them falling by one-third last year from 2022.

Behind Sir Keir, Ms Elphicke shook her head angrily. Like Mr Poulter, she intends to stand down at the next election, so it was a risk-free move to cross the Commons floor.

Still, it was not a great look for the PM, coming after the disastrous local elections. He looks in ever-more need of a political life raft.

Then again, Sir Keir’s open arms welcome to the right-of-centre Dover MP did not find favour with everyone in the Labour family.

Left-winger John McDonnell told LBC: “I'm a great believer in the powers of conversion, but I think even this one would have strained the generosity of spirit of John the Baptist, quite honestly.”