Natalie Elphicke 'lobbied Justice Secretary over sex offender ex-husband's trial'
11 May 2024, 21:33 | Updated: 12 May 2024, 07:37
Labour defector Natalie Elphicke has denied claims that she tried to lobby the Justice Secretary over the trial of her sex offender ex-husband.
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The Sunday Times reports that an unnamed source says that Ms Elphicke appeared to "lobby" Robert Buckland, then Lord Chancellor, over the trial of then-husband Charlie Elphicke.
The newspaper has printed allegations that Ms Elphicke, who is now a Labour MP after defecting from the Tories last week, spoke to Mr Buckland in 2020 before the hearing of her husband's criminal sex offences trial.
The article cites a source who was inside the room who claimed that Ms Elphicke felt it was unfair Mr Elphicke's case was first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after lockdown.
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 told the Sunday Times: “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.
Ms Elphicke denied the allegations that the conversation was an attempt to lobby Mr Buckland.
Responding to the allegations, Labour told the Sunday Times: "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."
A spokesperson for Natalie Elphicke told the Sunday Times: "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."
