Natalie Elphicke apologises for comments about ex-husband's victims following Labour backlash

New Labour MP Natalie Elphicke has addressed comments she made defending her ex-husband after he was convicted of sexual assault, following criticism from her new party colleagues.

The Dover MP - who sensationally defected to the opposition yesterday to fury from Tories - has today apologised for her remarks regarding her ex-husband's victims. Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke, was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years. She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Elphicke had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.

Ms Elphicke claimed he'd been the victim of a "terrible miscarriage of justice".

In 2021, she was one of several MPs to receive a one-day ban from the Commons by the standards committee after it found they had attempted to influence the judge presiding over Mr Elphicke's trial.

In a statement on Thursday, Ms Elphicke said she condemned “his behaviour towards other women and towards me”, adding it was “right that he was prosecuted” and she was “sorry for the comments that I made about his victims”.

She said: “The period of 2017 – 2020 was an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew. I know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him.”

Ms Elphicke added: “It is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system and our rates of prosecution and conviction are far too low as a country. “Keir Starmer’s mission to halve male violence against women and girls is critical and I wanted to take the opportunity to express my explicit support for Labour colleagues working to realise it.”

Following news of Ms Elphicke’s defection on Wednesday, Labour MPs raised concerns about the decision to admit her to the party, citing her comments about her ex-husband's case and his victims.

However, Sir Keir sidestepped questions about her previous remarks yesterday.

Jess Phillips, the former shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, said Ms Elphicke should “account for her actions”, adding: “I’m all for forgiveness but I do think that that needs some explaining.”

One Labour MP said they thought the decision was “utterly disgraceful”, while another was left in tears by the news.

Earlier on Thursday, Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said Ms Elphicke had already been made accountable for her actions.

She told Times Radio: “Of course, this is an incredibly serious issue and there was a judicial process, quite rightly, around that sexual assault.

“There was accountability for Natalie Elphicke in the fact that there was a parliamentary process around this.

“Now, it’s quite right that there was a parliamentary process, as I say Natalie Elphicke has gone through that, and I believe that she has addressed this in Parliament and in public, and rightly so, because this is a very serious subject.”

Despite the backlash within the Labour Party, the defection was another blow for the prime minister, after MP Dan Poulter’s decision to leave the Tories for Labour in April and the dismal local election results for the Conservatives last week.

Announcing her decision to switch parties, Ms Elphicke hit out at Rishi Sunak’s “tired and chaotic government” and accused the prime minister of failing to deliver on his promise to “stop the boats”, adding that Labour would “bring a much better future for our country”.

In a jibe at Ms Elphicke, Penny Mordaunt joked she is “too left wing” for Labour, as she insisted Tory hopes of retaining Dover were “slightly improved” by her defection.

The Commons Leader said it was a “personal tragedy” for Ms Elphicke to switch from the government benches to Labour, although she claimed it also exposed a “pattern of behaviour” from Sir Keir.

She compared the Labour leader to a crab that selects “sedentary creatures and seaweed” to help “disguise its true form”, as she accused him of running “Operation Radish” in a bid to appear “red on the outside” to voters.

Ms Mordaunt concluded: “The British people can see what is going on: they like their radishes in salads, not Number 10," later joking: “I am not about to defect to the opposition benches. They wouldn’t be interested in me, I’m too left wing.”

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