Labour defends welcoming rightwing Tory MP Natalie Elphicke into party – UK politics live
Dover MP hit out at ‘broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic government’ as she defected to Labour moments before PMQs
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Ms Elphicke has defected hitting out at the “broken promises of Rishi Sunak’s tired and chaotic Government”.
The Dover MP astonishingly crossed the floor in the Commons just moments before Prime Minister’s Questions.
She said in a statement: “I have carefully considered this decision. The change has been dramatic and cannot be ignored.
“For me key deciding factors have been housing and the safety and security of our borders.”
The move has been hit at from all sides, with MPs slamming Sir Keir Starmer for welcoming the right wing politician with open arms and Tory members branding the decision “idiotic”.
Despite ferocious criticism, Labour has defended Ms Elphicke and said it is “happy” to have the Tory MP on board.
In a new humiliating blow for Rishi, Ms Elphickle joins Dr Dan Poulter and Christian Wakeford in joining the opposition.
The walk-out was took place during the first face off since last week’s local election results, where Sir Keir Starmer hit out at the Conservatives for losing nearly 500 council seats in last week’s elections.
MoD cyberattack: Three-week hacking operation ‘by China’ exposed details of 270,000 armed forces personnel
The hacking attack on the British military by China was massive in scale, with 270,000 serving personnel, as well as reservists and veterans, from all three services affected.
The Special Forces have not been caught up in the breach, as they use a different, more secure system, but it remains unclear whether members of the Intelligence Corps, part of the army, are among those whose personal details may have been taken.
It is believed the hacking operation has been going on around three weeks, but was discovered last week after investigators started tracking “a pattern of unusual activity”.
Cyberattack ‘by China’ exposed details of 270,000 UK armed forces personnel
Unclear whether Intelligence Corps members among those whose details have been taken in massive hacking operation
Former armed forces minister calls for government to stand up to China
Former armed forces minister Mark Francois called for the Government to stand up to China and said soldiers will feel “disrespected” that the Government will not confirm that Beijing is responsible for the hack.
The Conservative MP (Welwyn Hatfield) said: “This will be very worrying for service personnel, their families and veterans. And they’ll be disrespected that the Government seems to have briefed that it was China overnight and then not had the nerve to confirm that in the House today, because someone rang up from the Foreign Office and said ‘don’t do that’.
“When oh when are we going to start standing up to the Chinese in a way that they are clearly not frightened to stand up to us?”
Mr Shapps said: “I want to make it absolutely clear to the House, we did absolutely everything we could to avoid this being made public until I had the opportunity to come to this House.
“We proactively endeavoured to ensure that our own approach towards removing the data from being online, closing that system down, ensuring the personnel were paid, making sure that the alternative payments system were in place for expenses and other things, and all of that could happen, ideally, before we came to this house.
“We most certainly did not wish to see or brief out the story. Unfortunately, because there are a large number of people potentially impacted it was almost impossible for people not to go and then talk about, and I believe that’s how it’s come into the public domain.”
Pollsters tell Sunak he is wrong over ‘hung parliament’ prediction
Pollsters have dismissed Rishi Sunak’s claims that his party still has a fighting chance with a general election likely to produce “a hung parliament“, writes our political editor David Maddox.
The prime minister is set to try to persuade MPs tomorrow that the result will be closer than many people predict at the first of two briefing sessions on the local elections alongside his party chairman Richard Holden and head of election strategy Isaac Levido.
The session will include a full assessment and breakdown of what the disastrous local election results mean after the Tories lost almost 500 council seats, the Blackpool South by-election and, most devastatingly, the West Midlands mayor.
Pollsters tell Sunak he is wrong over ‘hung parliament’ prediction
Rishi Sunak’s claims that Britain is heading to a hung parliament after general election have been dismissed as “wishful thinking”
Senior Tories call for tougher action on China following MoD cyberattack
Senior Tories have called for tougher action on China after speculation that Beijing is responsible for a large-scale cyberattack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
While the government has said that state involvement cannot be ruled out, it declined to identify the culprit and said it cannot release further details “for reasons of national security”.
Former leader of the Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith urged the government to put China in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.
The Conservative MP (Chingford and Woodford Green) asked: “Why in heaven’s name don’t we take the decision to place this malign actor into that enhanced place and then make sure we deal with them accordingly?”
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Alicia Kearns called on the government to “get the Foreign Office changing our position” on China.
Mark Francois, former Armed Forces minister and chair of the European Research Group, called for the Government to stand up to China, and accused the Foreign Office of being behind the Government’s refusal to name the malign actor in this latest cyber attack.
Tobias Ellwood says new rules should be drawn up on how to respond to cyberattacks
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) told MPs that the world is changing, with the “digital terrain being as important as the physical”, and that new rules should be drawn up on how to respond to cyberattacks.
The former defence minister said: “Had this been a physical, a kinetic attack on MoD main building, this place would be demanding some form of proportionate response.
“Indeed, you could even argue that that would be a Nato Article 5 situation.”
He added that the Rules of Engagement in the Geneva Conventions are “out of date” and that “we need to address errant nations are held to account and what constitutes a proportionate attack”.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps responded: “He’s right that people, in some sense, differentiate between an attack which is a physical one and an attack which is a cyber attack, but both can be incredibly serious and have enormous consequences.
“I want to stress in this case, because we do not believe that the information has in fact been stolen and, because we’re monitoring it through these eight different measures very carefully, there is a degree of ‘we’ve caught it and controlling it’. But his wider point is, of course, absolutely correct.”
Labour questions continued arms exports to Israel with Rafah humanitarian crisis
David Lammy moved Labour closer to calling for an outright ban on arms sales to Israel as the row over the Middle East crisis exploded in the House of Commons.
With Labour under pressure from its own MPs and activists to take a harder line against Israel on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Mr Lammy used an urgent question to ratchet up his party’s position.
It follows concerns in the party leadership that Muslims and others are not voting Labour because of its position on the conflict.
Labour questions continued arms exports to Israel with Rafah humanitarian crisis
Labour pressed deputy foreign minister Andrew Mitchell on arms sales to Israel as he responded to an urgent question in the Commons
Watch: Tory MP Paul Scully says he expects Labour to win general election
A Tory MP has suggested Labour will win the general election. Paul Scully, who is standing down at the next vote, shared a bleak outlook for Rishi Sunak's government. "There is a scenario we can get to, if we come up with a vision and sell that vision to the country, rather than just going from crisis to crisis... that you can get to a hung parliament or reduce the losses," he told BBC Politics on Tuesday 7 May. "My personal view, is that Labour is going to win the election."
Fury as Green Party member quits London Assembly just three days after being elected
The former leader of the Green Party has sparked fury after quitting the London Assembly just three days after being re-elected to her seat.
Sian Berry, who is standing to become an MP for the Greens in Brighton this year, passed the role to the party’s mayoral candidate, Zoe Garbett, instead.
It means Ms Garbett, who received 9,646 votes in the London mayoral contest, will take Ms Berry’s place in the London Assembly without the need for a by-election.
Fury as Green Party member quits London Assembly just three days after being elected
Sian Berry, who is standing to become an MP for the Greens in Brighton this year, passed the role to the party’s mayoral candidate, Zoe Garbett, instead
State involvement in MoD cyber attack cannot be ruled out, Grant Shapps says
Grant Shapps has said that “state involvement” in the large-scale cyber attack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cannot be ruled out amid speculation China carried out the hack.
The Defence Secretary said there is evidence of “potential failings” of the contractor operating the payroll system that was hacked, “which may have made it easier for the malign actor” to gain access to the bank details of service personnel and veterans.
Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey named the contractor as SSCL.
State involvement in MoD cyber attack cannot be ruled out, Grant Shapps says
The Defence Secretary said there is evidence of ‘potential failings’ of the contractor behind the hacked payroll system, named as SSCL in Parliament.
Muslim group issues 18 demands for Keir Starmer to win back voters lost over Gaza
A Muslim campaign group has issued Sir Keir Starmer with 18 demands in order to win back support lost due to his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Muslim Vote, which aims to organise voters against MPs who did not back a ceasefire in the conflict, has called for the Labour leader to apologise for his early stance on Israel’s campaign against Hamas.
And it has urged Sir Keir to promise to cut military ties with Israel and let Muslims pray in schools and for Labour figures to return “zionist money”.
Muslim group issues 18 demands for Keir Starmer to win back voters lost over Gaza
The Muslim Vote, which aims to organise voters against MPs who did not back a ceasefire in the conflict, has called for the Labour leader to apologise for his early stance on Israel’s campaign against Hamas
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