Sunday, May 12, 2024
A serious misstep
Keir Starmer's acceptance of Tory right-winger, Natalie Elphicke into the Labour Party may well have had short-term benefits for his party's ratings, but it has more serious consequences for how it defines his politics and in the way it portrays the Labour Party he wants to create.
That much is clear already in the reaction of Labour Party members and MPs to the defection, however it is the continuing drip of revelations about the Dover MP that is going to do the real damage.
As Nation Cymru reports, the latest blow to Elphicke's credibility is the news that she has been accused of lobbying the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s criminal sex offences trial.
They report that Sir Robert Buckland has said that Elphicke approached him when he was lord chancellor and justice secretary before the hearing of Charlie Elphicke’s case:
She allegedly told Sir Robert that it was unfair the case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after the Covid lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple, The Sunday Times reported.
One person present viewed her comments as a bid to have the case moved to a lower-profile court to spare her partner public scrutiny, while another saw it as an attempt to replace the senior judge, according to the newspaper.
Sir Robert rejected her plea, suggesting his intervention could undermine the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers between Parliament and the judiciary.
The Tory MP told The Sunday Times: “She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all.”
Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover was later convicted of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years.
She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Mr Elphicke had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.
Ms Elphicke allegedly also tried to secure him better prison conditions, asking for more comfortable pillows, The Sunday Times reported.
The new Labour MP denies the characterisation of the meeting with Sir Robert and that she asked for improved jail conditions.
And what were her motives for defecting in the first place. Well, as far as her former party are concerned, she quit the Conservatives because she was “bitter” about being denied a ministerial job in charge of housing policy.
They told journalists that Elphicke was enraged at being rejected first by Liz Truss when she entered Downing Street in 2022 and then again by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
I guess we'll never really know, but taking her on-board in the first place is begnning to look like a serious misstep by Starmer.
That much is clear already in the reaction of Labour Party members and MPs to the defection, however it is the continuing drip of revelations about the Dover MP that is going to do the real damage.
As Nation Cymru reports, the latest blow to Elphicke's credibility is the news that she has been accused of lobbying the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s criminal sex offences trial.
They report that Sir Robert Buckland has said that Elphicke approached him when he was lord chancellor and justice secretary before the hearing of Charlie Elphicke’s case:
She allegedly told Sir Robert that it was unfair the case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after the Covid lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple, The Sunday Times reported.
One person present viewed her comments as a bid to have the case moved to a lower-profile court to spare her partner public scrutiny, while another saw it as an attempt to replace the senior judge, according to the newspaper.
Sir Robert rejected her plea, suggesting his intervention could undermine the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers between Parliament and the judiciary.
The Tory MP told The Sunday Times: “She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all.”
Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover was later convicted of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years.
She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Mr Elphicke had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.
Ms Elphicke allegedly also tried to secure him better prison conditions, asking for more comfortable pillows, The Sunday Times reported.
The new Labour MP denies the characterisation of the meeting with Sir Robert and that she asked for improved jail conditions.
And what were her motives for defecting in the first place. Well, as far as her former party are concerned, she quit the Conservatives because she was “bitter” about being denied a ministerial job in charge of housing policy.
They told journalists that Elphicke was enraged at being rejected first by Liz Truss when she entered Downing Street in 2022 and then again by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
I guess we'll never really know, but taking her on-board in the first place is begnning to look like a serious misstep by Starmer.
