BEXHILL and Battle Conservative MP Huw Merriman has blasted former Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke’s decision to defect to Labour, the second Tory MP to do so in a matter of weeks.
Mr Merriman, who remains committed to the Conservative Party, said he was “astonished” by Ms Elphicke’s decision to cross the floor and join Sir Keir Starmer’s party as the General Election draws ever closer.
A clearly irate Mr Merriman told the BBC in a diatribe where he could not disguise his fury, said: “Every stage Natalie has written to say that all of the policies we try to put in place that she’s backed, and Labour hasn’t, is exactly why Labour can’t be trusted.
“They (Labour) want an Amnesty on immigrants’ status and yet what does she do, she jumps side with the people that she’s attacking.
“You are elected by your constituents to carry out their wishes and she’s just being an opportunist. I am just disappointed for politics that she’s done what she’s done today.
“We need to be completely consistent to our principles that got us elected in the first place, and remember why we are here.
“When people just make career opportunistic moves all of us end up looking bad in politics. I feel sad for politics, principles and scruples and what the public must think of us when someone makes such a shameless decision.
“I am absolutely staggered by it.”
Mr Merriman who has reiterated on several occasions that he is a staunch Conservative and has served as a junior minister in the Government, could not hide his disappointment at Ms Elphicke’s decision to defect to Labour, especially as the General Election is now just a matter of months away.
With Prime Minister Rishi Sunak under increasing pressure both on the domestic stage and internationally this is the last thing that Tory Party needs especially after the hammering the party took in both the local elections and the recent by-election, hence Mr Merriman’s criticism of the latest defection.
There have been several calls for Conservative Party members to pull together but it seems the divisions remain as wide as ever with some members of even suggesting it is time for the return of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Clearly there are many more debates to be held over both Mr Sunak’s future and the future of the party itself in the forth coming weeks and months.
