More Tory MPs are considering defection to Labour, says Wes Streeting

Wes Streeting said Natalie Elphicke and the former Tory MP Dan Poulter had defected ‘with a purpose, not out of personal ambition’. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Labour’s Wes Streeting has said he has spoken to more Conservative MPs considering a defection to the opposition, similar to that of Natalie Elphicke, but insisted the party would not accept just any politician.

The shadow health secretary said Elphicke, who is due to appear alongside the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, in her Dover constituency on Friday, had switched sides “with a purpose” and “not out of personal ambition”, defending the move amid a backlash from some Labour MPs.

Referring to Elphicke’s defection and that of the former Tory MP Dan Poulter in an interview with the Independent, Streeting said: “I think in Dan’s case, as a doctor in the NHS, who has come to the unequivocal conclusion only Labour can be trusted to sort the NHS out, [and] Natalie Elphicke, who is with her community seeing the consequences of what happens when immigration goes poorly managed …

“I think they are very powerful message-carriers, but they have defected with a purpose, not out of personal ambition, and I think people should take that message really seriously.”

Streeting said he had spoken to more Tory MPs considering a move because of the “division and incompetence” of Rishi Sunak’s government.

However, he stressed there were limits, saying: “If Liz Truss were to want to cross the floor, and I don’t imagine she would, I would rather take the lettuce.”

Labour MPs have criticised the decision to admit Elphicke to the party, citing her hardline views on immigration and her previous support of her ex-husband after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women.

The Dover MP apologised on Thursday for claiming, after Charlie Elphicke’s 2020 conviction, that he was “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.

She said: “The period of 2017 to 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.”

On Friday, the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, welcomed Elphicke’s defection and accepted the apology of the Dover MP. Cooper told Times Radio: “We welcome people coming to join the Labour party and changing their views on issues. We hope this will happen across the country.”

She added: “Natalie Elphicke has rightly apologised for the things that she has said and she has also condemned the behaviour of her ex-husband, both towards other women and towards her.”

Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, had told backbenchers at an internal parliamentary committee meeting that Elphicke would have no “formal role” in the party after the backlash.

A source told the Telegraph: “The key point was that [Rayner] clarified Natalie will have no formal role beyond being just a backbencher.”

The decision was another blow to Sunak, coming shortly after Poulter’s defection and local election results last week that painted a dismal picture for the Conservatives.

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

Downing Street, meanwhile, has pointed out Elphicke’s repeated attacks on Labour’s immigration policy, and the foreign secretary, David Cameron, said her defection showed the opposition stood for nothing.