TORY DEPARTEE

Labour line up more defections as latest recruit slams Sunak's failed leadership

- JOHN STEVENS and SOPHIE HUSKISSON

LABOUR is talking to more Tory MPs who could defect after Natalie Elphicke dramatically switched sides yesterday.

In a shock move just minutes before Prime Minister's Questions, the Dover MP crossed the floor to join Keir Starmer's party.

It came only a fortnight after fellow Conservative Dr Dan Poulter made the jump.

Ms Elphicke blasted PM Rishi Sunak's "tired and chaotic government" as she argued that a general election "cannot come soon enough".

"Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division," she added.

Welcoming Ms Elphicke, Mr Starmer asked Mr Sunak what is "the point of this failed Government staggering on... if one week a Tory MP who is also a doctor says the Prime Minister can't be trusted with the NHS and joins Labour, and the next week the Tory MP on the front line of the small boats crisis says the Prime Minister cannot be trusted with our borders, and joins Labour".

BACKLASH

The Mirror understands Mr Starmer's team has already started speaking with other MPs who could make the jump.

A Labour source said: "More conversations are taking place but there is still quite a way to go. If there are more defections, they won't be imminent. It is not like we have got someone lined up for next week."