‘Naked opportunism’ – Cameron takes aim at Starmer over Elphicke defection
LORD Cameron yesterday accused Labour of ‘naked opportunism’ over Natalie Elphicke’s defection from the Tories.
The Foreign Secretary and former prime minister said Sir Keir Starmer accepting Ms Elphicke showed that neither he or his party ‘stand for anything’.
The broadside came amid accusations that Ms Elphicke lobbied a former justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in the sexual assault trial of her ex-husband and predecessor as Dover MP, Charlie Elphicke. She has claimed the allegations, which were first revealed in The Mail on Sunday, are ‘nonsense’.
Lord Cameron refused to comment on the claims but told Trevor Phillips on Sky News: ‘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.’
Ms Elphicke crossed the Commons floor last week accusing the Tories of becoming a ‘byword for incompetence and division’.
Some Labour MPs have questioned the decision to accept her. They include Zarah Sultana who said: ‘She is a former paid-up member of the ERG [European Research Group], she voted for Liz Truss in the leadership, she’s attacked trade unions, [is] not great on the environment either.
‘Unless she’s had the biggest Damascene conversion ever, I just don’t buy it.’ On Saturday, former justice secretary Sir Robert Buckland accused Ms Elphicke of asking him to speak to the judge on the eve of her exhusband’s trial. She allegedly wanted the trial date moved and questioned whether the judge would be excessively tough.
Elphicke was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault against two women. Ms Elphicke ended their 25-year marriage after his conviction.
Sir Robert says he told her this would have been ‘completely inappropriate’.