Natalie Elphicke defection: Keir Starmer risks feeding the perception that politics is ‘all just a bit of a game’

By Eric Shaw, Honorary Research Fellow in Politics, University of Stirling

Natalie Elphicke is the third Conservative MP to defect to Labour since the last election – but the first Tory rightwinger. She had enthusiastically backed Brexit, and was a member of the eurosceptic European Research Group of Conservative MPs. She has attacked Labour’s “softness on immigration” and harshly criticised trade unions.

In short, on most issues – Elphicke’s specialist interest of housing…

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