Natalie Elphicke’s dramatic defection to Labour had already caused some controversy this week, with many in Labour feeling she should not have been welcome given her history on the right of the Tory party. Now there could be more trouble for Keir Starmer after the Sunday Times reported that Elphicke may have lobbied Justice Secretary Robert Buckland over her husband’s forthcoming trial on sexual assault charges in 2020. Speaking to Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth on the BBC, Laura Kuenssberg asked if Elphicke should be investigated. Ashworth told Kuenssberg he ‘wasn’t there’ at the meeting in 2020, but said that Elphicke insisted the allegations were ‘nonsense’. He also asked why the justice secretary had never mentioned the incident before. Kuenssberg pointed out that Labour would probably be ‘shouting from the rooftops’ for an investigation if Elphicke was still a Tory MP, and wondered whether Labour had made an error of judgment. Ashworth said that Elphicke’s switch to Labour revealed a ‘disintegrating and decaying Conservative government’.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana on Elphicke: ‘I don’t buy it’
Zarah Sultana is one such Labour MP with doubts about their newest arrival. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Sultana pointed out that Elphicke was a member of the European Research Group, had voted for Liz Truss, and attacked trade unions. Sultana also suggested it was hypocritical of the party to accept a right wing MP who might be investigated into the party while Diane Abbott was still suspended. Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, also on the panel, suggested that Starmer had made a mistake with Natalie Elphicke that ‘Tony Blair wouldn’t have made’.
‘Frustrated’ Lord Cameron says arms sales to Israel will continue
With a Rafah offensive seemingly imminent, President Biden has announced a pause on the delivery of military aid to Israel. Speaking on the BBC this morning, Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Laura Kuenssberg that US military involvement with Israel is a ‘totally different situation’, and that the UK is not currently planning to follow suit. Kuenssberg asked whether stopping arms deliveries might send a political message, but Cameron claimed he was uninterested in ‘message-sending’, and said his focus was on achieving a ceasefire and the release of hostages, as well as improving aid delivery to the Palestinian people.
Jonathan Ashworth: Rafah offensive would be ‘catastrophe beyond description’
In contrast, Labour have stated that they would follow Biden in pausing arms sales. Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth told Kuenssberg that a Rafah offensive would be catastrophic, and that he did not want to see British-made weapons or components used in that offensive. Kuenssberg asked Ashworth why he would go against the government’s strict process through which they make such decisions. Ashworth said that Labour have been calling for the
government to release the legal advice they had received, and said he ‘did not understand’ their position, given that multiple previous leaders have approved arms sales suspensions.
David Cameron: ‘We’ve got to make our strength count’
Finally, with Russia reopening a major front in northeastern Ukraine, David Cameron admitted on Sky News that this is an ‘extremely dangerous’ moment. However, the foreign secretary emphasised to Trevor Phillips that Ukraine’s allies ‘outrank’ the Russian economy twenty five to one. With US aid now approved, Cameron suggested that the Russians could be pushed back next year. He said that Germany was providing a lot in monetary terms but that the UK wanted European nations to provide more military support.
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