BBC Question Time crowd delivers brutal, silent verdict on former Tory MP’s defection to Labor

THE BBC Question Time the public had a pretty harsh opinion on whether it was new or not Work Deputy Natalie Elphicke will be an asset to the party after his defection from Conservatives this week.

Before crossing the room, Elphicke was considered to be to the right of the Conservative party and is known for her controversial opinions on migration.

Keir Starmer The decision to welcome him to his party raised more than one eyebrow.

Host of Question Time Fiona Bruce asked the crowd Thursday night: “In the interest of balance, (can I ask) does anyone think Natalie Elphicke will be an asset to the party? The Labor Party?”

The room remained eerily quiet, without a single hand being raised.

“OK, not a hand was raised,” Bruce noted – before setting off a wave of laughter in the room by mistakenly thinking that one person had actually raised their hand.

However, the Labor leader Lisa Nandy downplayed the possible negative consequences of Elphicke’s defection.

She told the audience that she was most concerned about cost of living crisis and the NHS, adding: “The government has descended into chaos and these are the issues we should be talking about. »

Nady said: “When people offer to repent of their old views, come forward, take the Labor whip and vote to protect the people I represent today and every day from now until the moment Rishi Sunak calls this general election, it would be It would be an abrogation of my responsibility to say: “absolutely not because I have my values ​​and I don’t believe you have yours”.

“We have to start winning, we have to force a general election and we have to rebuild this country so that it can serve working people again.”

However, left-wing commentator Grace Blakeley thought otherwise.

She said: “Anyone who has criticized Labor recently has been told: ‘you’re just trying to bring in the Tories’.

“And here is Keir Starmer, literally bringing the Tories into his own party.”

Blakeley added that “he’s not just any Tory” and listed Elphicke’s tough views on migration and his previously critical stance towards Labor.

Elphicke made headlines for supporting her then-husband after he was convicted as a sex offender.

She wrote an op-ed in 2020 saying he was punished for being “attractive and attracted to women.”

However, the day after switching parties to Labor, Elphicke apologized for the remarks, saying: “I have already condemned and do condemn his behavior towards other women and towards me.

“It was true that he was prosecuted and I am sorry for the comments I made about his victims.”

Back in Question Time, Blakeley pointed out that she had apologized and been accepted into the Labor Party – despite being a senior MP. Diane Abbott still sits as an independent, having lost the position of party whip after making controversial remarks about racism.

She apologized “unreservedly” afterwards, but more than a year later she has yet to be welcomed back into Starmer’s party.

Blakeley said she found this “really upsetting double standard.”

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