{"id":1869,"date":"2024-05-08T11:57:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T11:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/tory-mp-calls-government-incompetent-as-she-defects-to-labour-at-pmqs\/"},"modified":"2024-05-08T11:57:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T11:57:16","slug":"tory-mp-calls-government-incompetent-as-she-defects-to-labour-at-pmqs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/tory-mp-calls-government-incompetent-as-she-defects-to-labour-at-pmqs\/","title":{"rendered":"Tory MP calls government ‘incompetent’ as she defects to Labour at PMQs"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tory MP calls government ‘incompetent’ as she defects to Labour at PMQs<\/p>\n
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Another one. Another defection. Another Conservative MP giving up on the Conservatives \nand crossing the floor to Labour.<\/p>\n
Defections don\u2019t happen very often. Or at least they don\u2019t in normal times.<\/p>\n
But barely days after Dan Poulter, a former Tory \nminister, switched to Labour, now Natalie Elphicke has too.<\/p>\n
Little wonder there was chat beforehand that Sir Keir \nStarmer wanted to talk about small boat crossings. Natalie Elphicke is the MP for Dover.<\/p>\n
Defections are head spinning for Westminster \u2014 such a \ntribal place.<\/p>\n
They are a morale lifting fillip for the party of the new \narrival, and debilitating for the party they have departed, particularly when \nit from the governing party to the main opposition party. Why?<\/p>\n
They personify very starkly what an opposition party is \nseeking to do on a far wider scale \u2014 tempt people who recently backed the \nConservatives to switch to backing Labour.<\/p>\n
And the party political words of the defecting MP have an \nadditional capacity to wound given their previous political home.<\/p>\n
“Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a \nbyword for incompetence and division.”<\/p>\n
It is the sort of thing you wouldn\u2019t be surprised to hear \nfrom a career Labour MP. But these are the words of someone who was a Conservative \nMP a matter of hours ago.<\/p>\n
Labour will retain their existing candidate in Dover and \nDeal at the general election and Natalie Elphicke will stand down, we\u2019re told.<\/p>\n
But Keir Starmer will delight in the pictures of him \nwelcoming Natalie Elphicke to his side of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
And expect to see the two of them together shortly doing \nthe handshakes, warm words and broad smiles for the cameras.<\/p>\n
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