'Traitors never sleep well': Deputy foreign sec hits out at Natalie Elphicke as Labour backs her over 'lobbying' claims

12 May 2024, 11:16 | Updated: 12 May 2024, 22:43

Deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell has hit out at Labour defector Natalie Elphicke after she denied claims that she tried to lobby the Justice Secretary over the trial of her sex offender ex-husband.

Mr Mitchell said Ms Elphicke was "already presenting very serious problems" for Labour, after her defection earlier in the week.

It comes after she was accused of trying to lobby the Justice Secretary over the trial of her sex offender ex-husband.

Mr Mitchell told LBC's Sunday with Lewis Goodall: "Traitors never sleep well, they are despised by their old party and they're never trusted by their old party.

"I would be very surprised indeed if anyone were to follow Natalie Elphicke who is already presenting very serious problems of principle for the leader of the Labour party who was a former Director of Public Prosecutions.

"If you look at what she's said, she's in opposition to almost everything the Labour party stands for.

"Her record as a Member of Parliament is clear, it's all there in black and white, you don't have to look in the crystal ball, you can read the book and frankly I think it's absolutely astonishing the Labour party would want her."

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It follows allegations that she appeared to "lobby" Robert Buckland, then Lord Chancellor, over the trial of then-husband Charlie Elphicke.

Ms Elphicke, who is now a Labour MP after defecting from the Tories last week, allegedly spoke to Mr Buckland in 2020 before the hearing of her husband's criminal sex offences trial.

An unnamed source who was inside the room told the Sunday Times that Ms Elphicke felt it was unfair Mr Elphicke's case was first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after lockdown.

Read more: Natalie Elphicke 'lobbied Justice Secretary over sex offender ex-husband's trial'

Read more: New Labour MP Natalie Elphicke apologises over comments she made about her ex-husband's victims

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Another person who witnessed the conversation was said to have interpreted the conversation as an attempt to replace the judge in the case, Lady Justice Whipple.

Responding to the allegations, Mr Buckland said he shut down the conversation in July immediately but did not comment on what he believed her intentions to be.

The South Swindon MP said: “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.

Lewis Goodall speaks to Andrew Mitchell

Ms Elphicke denied the claims, with a spokesperson saying: "This is nonsense.

"It's certainly true that Mr Elphicke continued to be supported after his imprisonment by a large number of Conservative MPs who had known him for a long time, including some who visited him and independently lobbied on his behalf, with nothing to do with Natalie."

Shadow Paymaster General Jonathan Ashworth insisted that he had not reason to disbelieve Ms Elphicke.

"She says it's not her interpretation of events and that this is nonsense," he told LBC.

"We all know it is not right for MPs to act in that way but she is saying that is not her interpretation of events.

"Equally, if such a matter from a parliamentarian was raised with the Lord Chancellor at the time, then it's incumbent on the Lord Chancellor at the time to raise concerns, not to talk to newspapers two or three years later and after the event."

Addressing whether she should be investigated over the claims, Mr Ashworth added: "I've got no reason to disbelieve her explanation. If Robert Buckland has more to say, then all these things I'm sure will be looked at.

"If a Conservative politician made an accusation about a Labour MP and the Labour MP denied it, said it was nonsense and it was not their interpretation of the meeting, then there we are."

Labour said in a statement: "Natalie Elphicke totally rejects this characterisation of the meeting.

"If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party."