Now we know why Natalie Elphicke defected to Labour and it isn’t good
Now we know why Natalie Elphicke defected to Labour and it isn’t good: she is to advise Keir Starmer on housing policy.
This comes after Dan Poulter crossed the floor of the House of Commons in order to become an adviser to Labour on medical matters.
Can you see what is happening?
Tories are joining Labour in order to impose Conservative policies on Keir Starmer’s party if it forms a government.
Elphicke has said she has common ground with Labour because she has campaigned for rent freezes and against homelessness.
But just one look at her voting record on housing and we see a very different picture – one in which she stands shoulder-to-shoulder with all other Conservative MPs.
She has consistently voted* – with all other Conservative MPs – against stronger planning laws. These included allowing additional homes to be built on top of existing blocks of flats without planning permission, and allowing English public bodies to ignore Local Nature Recovery Strategies (which This Writer believes means allowing houses to be built on flood plains).
She has consistently voted to allow landlords to pass on the cost of building safety works that are required by law, including fire safety, to leaseholders.
And she has consistently voted against stronger fire safety measures, including a decision not to create the Building Works Agency which would have been charged with administering a programme of cladding remediation and other building safety works – this clearly seems to be a response to the Grenfell Tower fire; she would allow more people to die in the same way, apparently.
I do not see any information showing that her advisory role will be restricted to rent freezes and homelessness – and indeed I do not see any information showing expertise in those areas.
I must conclude that Ms Elphicke has joined Labour to impose Conservative policies on that party.
And I am therefore glad that her defection to that party has created upset within its ranks.
I agree with former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (as I have on many matters) that “this [conversion] would have strained the generosity of spirit of John the Baptist”.
I also find myself in rarer agreement with Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, who said she did not “believe for a second that [Ms Elphicke] has suddenly transformed into a Labour MP”.
I even find myself agreeing with Jess Phillips, who reminded us that after her ex-husband Charlie had been convicted for sexual assault, Ms Elphicke had given in interview in which she was reported to have said being “attractive” and “attracted to women” had made him an “easy target”.
Phillips said Ms Elphicke should “account for her actions”, telling ITV’s Peston show: “I’m all for forgiveness but I do think that that needs some explaining.”
And Mish Rahman, who serves on Labour’s National Executive Committee, made his feelings perfectly clear. He said Labour should be about transforming the UK, “not saving the careers of Tory politicians who the British public are rejecting because of the damage they’ve done to the country”.
All these words have fallen on Keir Starmer’s deaf ears; he hasn’t paid any attention at all to the concerns of his MPs and party members.
He said the defection shows that Labour is “the party of the national interest”.
National interest?
Doesn’t it really show that Labour is now the refuge for the petty personal interests of far-right hangers-on who are desperate to prolong their worthless careers?
*All voting information is provided by They Work For You.
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“Tories are joining Labour in order to impose Conservative policies on Keir Starmer’s party if it forms a government.”
I hardly see how they need to do this. Starmer has scooped up their policies anyway.