Labor MP Natalie Elphicke apologizes for comments about her ex-husband’s sexual assault victims after quitting the Tories – live

Tory defector Natalie Elphicke has apologized after speaking out in support of her ex-husband.

In a new statement, she said: “My decision to join the Labor Party was not taken lightly, but because I believe this country needs a new government led by Keir Starmer to solve the problems we face in housing construction.” to small boats.

“I always knew this decision would put my ex-husband’s prosecution in the spotlight, and I want to directly address some of the comments surrounding it.

“The period from 2017 to 2020 was incredibly stressful and difficult for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew. I know it was far more difficult for the women who had to relive their experiences and testify against him.

“I have condemned his behavior towards other women and towards myself before and do so. He was right to be prosecuted and I am sorry for the comments I made about his victims.

“It is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system and as a country our prosecution and conviction rates are far too low.”

“Keir Starmer’s mission to halve male violence against women and girls is vital and I wanted to take the opportunity to express my strong support to the Labor colleagues working on this.”

The Legatum Institute has called on Rishi Sunak and the Tories to learn lessons from Labour’s shadow foreign secretary after he made another successful trip to Washington DC ahead of what many believe will be Labor’s general election victory.

The Prime Minister has vowed to protect Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests at British universities.

In a post on

This came after Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), called on university leaders to take “swift and decisive action” to protect Jewish students.

A new YouGov poll suggests the Conservatives would retain just 13 seats at the next general election.

The survey, conducted for The timesshowed Labor at 48 percent and the Conservatives at 18 percent – just five points ahead of Reform UK among people who said they would vote and expressed their preference.

Nadhim Zahawi, who was born into an influential Kurdish family, came to Britain fleeing persecution as they clashed with Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Once touted as the party’s rising star, he was praised for his role as vaccines minister during the vaccination rollout during the Covid-19 pandemic and was promoted to chancellor by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2022.

The Conservative Party suffered its worst election defeat in years last week, losing more than half of its councilors running for re-election across England.

The Energy Secretary defended the Conservative Party’s results when she appeared on ITV’s Peston on Wednesday night (May 8) and was asked whether the Prime Minister should change his plans.

As Rishi Sunak loses his second MP in two weeks to the opposition benches, Sean O’Grady looks at the history of high-profile defections – and what it says about the state of the Conservative Party.

“It would be great if colleagues would also speak up,” she said. Ms Duffield said on Wednesday that Labor MPs were “astonished” by her “really strange” move to switch sides.

New Labor MP Natalie Elphicke has come under fire for comments she made in 2020 after her ex-husband was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women.

Charlie Elphicke was sentenced to two years in prison.

At the time she said in an interview with The sun : “I could tell right away that he had a real and genuine infatuation with the woman, even though he said he wasn’t attracted to her.

“I said, ‘You had another affair.’ In some ways, that was worse for me than having a sexual relationship with someone.

“It was just terrible. The case was truly unpleasant, terrible, shocking and humiliating.”

The Stratford-on-Avon MP, who previously served as chancellor and education secretary, was sacked as leader of the Conservative Party in January last year after an investigation found he had failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs.

He joined more than 100 MPs who wanted to quit before the general election. Check whether your constituency is affected: