Nigel Farage slams Natalie Elphicke's 'utter rubbish' and suggests real reason she quit

Nigel Farage has slammed Natalie Elphicke's reasons for quitting the Tories (Image: Getty)

Nigel Farage has slammed Natalie Elphicke’s “complete and utter rubbish" reasons for quitting the Conservatives.

The Reform UK Honorary President suggested Ms Elphicke will be given a seat in the House of Lords for inflicting another blow on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Ms Elphicke crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before PMQs and sat behind Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who hailed her defection as another indication of how he had changed the Labour Party.

She said the “key deciding factors” in her defection were housing issues and “the safety and security of our borders”.

Natalie Elphicke slammed Rishi Sunak's record in office (Image: Getty)

But Mr Farage said: “So what's going on here? Well, if you go back to the last years of the Major government, there were defections; Conservative MPs joining the Labour Party.

“Do you know something? Every single one of them got looked after. Yep: They all went to the House of Lords and I'd be very surprised if Poulter and Elphicke didn't go to the House of Lords.

“Whether she thinks Keir Starmer can give her some kind of broader protection, I just don't know but I think this really raises a lot more questions than it answers.

“I wouldn't be surprised to see quite a few more defections to the Labour Party, especially in seats where it appears the Conservatives are doomed, but this really is a funny one.

“And at the heart of it, as I say, is a criticism of the Labour Party for its approach to small boats, let alone to legal migration.”

The comments come in stark contrast to an article the Dover MP wrote in the Daily Express a year ago warning Labour cannot be trusted on immigration and calling the party leader “Sir Softie”.

Ms Elphicke is standing down at the general election and denied that she had been offered a peerage by Labour.

Mr Farage added: “The local MP, Natalie Elphicke, has been deeply critical of the fact she doesn't think Labour really has a plan to deal with the boats problem in any way at all.

“I think she's also quite sceptical about the Conservative’s plan. She is very, very much on the right wing of the party and I can tell you, having spoken to local people, that the local Labour party absolutely hates her.

“So how bizarre that Prime Minister's questions started at midday and there was Natalie Elphicke, sitting in the row behind Keir Starmer. No one quite knew really what was going on.

“But later on, after PMQs in an interview, she gave her reasons for now joining the Labour Party.

“She is opposed to virtually everything that Labour stands for and has been for all of her relatively short time in Parliament.