In welcoming Natalie Elphicke, has Starmer ditched morality in favour of winning a majority?

The Labour high command has imposed such iron discipline on selections that only a handful of left-wingers have been chosen, writes Andrew Grice. So, what to make of the right-wing former Tory – and Labour’s newest recruit?

Would right-winger Elphicke have survived the vetting process to become a Labour parliamentary candidate? (Getty)

An intriguing question was on the minds of some Labour MPs after Keir Starmer welcomed the right-wing Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke into their party with open arms: would she have survived the vetting process to become a Labour parliamentary candidate?

The Labour high command has imposed such iron discipline on selections that only a handful of left-wingers have been chosen. After a recent weekend “training session” for candidates emphasised the need for message discipline, one of those present told me: “There was no need for it. You couldn’t imagine a more loyal bunch.”

Certainly, Elphicke’s previous remarks about her former husband Charlie’s conviction for sexually assaulting two women might have been probed more fully if, in a different world, she had applied to be a Labour candidate. (She apologised only after a backlash from Labour MPs.)