It is clearly moving season for MPs. First Dan Poulter, a former Tory health minister, defected to Labour at the end of April because of the government’s lamentable failings on the NHS. Fair enough.
Then there was the breathtaking defection to Labour of Natalie Elphicke, one of the most rightwing Tory MPs who has made a career of high-volume criticism of Labour policies, some of which would have meant a lifetime ban had the criticism come from a serving Labour MP. Elphicke was welcomed in by Keir Starmer (Report, 8 May). On the same day, the Labour whip was restored to Kate Osamor after what was described as “a full investigation” for claiming, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in January, that what is happening in Gaza should be remembered as genocide.
I can’t help wondering what due diligence Labour performed before admitting Elphicke and why Osamor was readmitted just over three months after her remarks. Meanwhile, Diane Abbott, despite a full apology, has not had the whip restored more that a year after her remarks about racism based on a lifetime of being the butt of racist remarks. A combination of poor judgment and double standards?
Alan Healey
Baschurch, Shropshire
• The fact that Labour is now a party with which Natalie Elphicke is comfortable is bad news for Labour. And the fact that Labour is now a party that is comfortable with Elphicke is bad news for pretty much everybody.
Ian Shuttleworth
Berlin, Germany
• I’m waiting to see if Nadine Dorries announces that she is also defecting to Labour, and then see how long it takes Keir Starmer to realise that it’s all an elaborate practical joke.
Daniel Owen
Torrington, Devon
• Is Natalie Elphicke’s defection evidence that she now leans to the left, or that the Labour party now leans to the right?
Stefan Badham
Portsmouth
• Why not believe that Ms Elphicke has had a Damascene conversion, and let’s hope that many more Tory MPs make the same journey.
Linda Karlsen
Whitstable, Kent
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