What did Natalie Elphicke say about Marcus Rashford? New Labour MP's comments on ex-husband Charlie explained

Natalie Elphicke shocked Westminster as she quit the Conservative Party and crossed the House of Commons to join Labour.

Keir Starmer greeted her defection with glee, gloating that the Dover MP’s switch shows “the Prime Minister ‘cannot be trusted’ with our borders”. However, Elphicke’s move has caused some disquiet in Labour ranks, with one member telling NationalWorld: “I don’t want her in our party.” One Labour MP told the PA news agency they thought the decision was “utterly disgraceful”, while another was left in tears by the news.

The 53-year-old had previously criticised England star Marcus Rashford and made controversial comments about her sex offender ex-husband Charlie Elphicke, with Reform UK saying they would not have accepted her in their party. Why is Elphicke so controversial? Here’s everything you need to know.

What did Natalie Elphicke say about her ex-husband Charlie?

Elphicke entered Parliament as Dover’s Conservative MP in 2019, an opportunity that emerged from scandal. She succeeded her disgraced ex-husband, Charlie, who was jailed for two years after being convicted in 2020 of three counts of sexual assault on two women.

The court hear how Charlie Elphicke groped one of his victims and chased her around his house singing: "I'm a naughty Tory, I'm a naughty Tory.” She had defended her husband for two-and-a-half years after the allegations emerged and accompanied him hand-in-hand into Southwark Crown Court throughout the trial.

But minutes after the jury returned guilty verdicts, she announced to the world on social media that their 25-year marriage was over. She was among a group of Tory MPs who were admonished by the most senior judge in England and Wales for seeking “to influence a judge”.

They had written to senior judges in a bid to block the release of character references relating to Charlie Elphicke. The five Conservatives were later found to have breached the MPs’ code of conduct over the “egregious” attempt to influence the legal proceedings. They were suspended from the House of Commons for a day. Elphicke also said after the conviction that her husband had been punished for being “attractive and attracted to women”, adding that he was “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.

Today (9 May), she apologised saying she condemned “his behaviour towards other women and towards me”, adding it was “right that he was prosecuted” and she was “sorry for the comments that I made about his victims”.

She said: “The period of 2017 – 2020 was an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me as I learned more about the person I thought I knew. I know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him.”

Elphicke added: “It is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system and our rates of prosecution and conviction are far too low as a country. Keir Starmer’s mission to halve male violence against women and girls is critical and I wanted to take the opportunity to express my explicit support for Labour colleagues working to realise it.”

What did Natalie Elphicke say about Marcus Rashford?

After Marcus Rashford missed one of the penalties in the Euro 2020 final, Elphicke sent a text to colleagues saying he should have spent more time on football and less time on politics. The Manchester United ace had mounted a high profile campaign, urging the government to provide a free school meals during the holidays.

Elphicke wrote: “They lost – would it be ungenerous to say Rashford should have spent more time perfecting his game and less time playing politics.” Elphicke apologised, but Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, her new colleague, was so incensed by her comment she said the then-Tory MP should “f*** off”.

Reform UK ‘wouldn’t have accepted Elphicke’

After Elphicke’s defection, many commentators said they thought it was more likely the Dover MP would switch to Reform UK, given her strong pro-Brexit views. However Reform Parliamentary candidate Alan Cook told NationalWorld that his party wouldn’t have accepted the new Labour MP. He claimed that Reform UK is in conversation with nine possible defectors, but had not spoken to Elphicke.

“She’s got the right idea on Brexit, on immigration and the right voting record,” Cook said. “But we want to come across as a new look political party, we are trying to put the trust back into the politicians in the UK.” Cook explained that Elphicke’s attempts to influence the judge sentencing her husband would have been a red flag for Reform.

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.