Natalie Elphicke defection ‘like being punched in the gut’, says Jess Philips
Jess Phillips has revealed that seeing Natalie Elphicke cross the floor to join the Labour Party felt “a bit like being punched in the gut” given the former Conservative MP’s “victim blaming” after her ex-husband and former MP Charlie Elphike was convicted of sexual assault.
The former shadow minister for domestic violence told our Electoral Dysfunction podcast that the leadership should have handled the defection of Ms Elphickle “in a way that was slightly more sensitive to those of us who speak up on these particular issues”, as the MP for Birmingham Yardley hinted at the private anger and upset among Labour MPs over the shock arrival of Ms Elphicke, a Tory rightwinger who was a member of the Brexiteer ERG group and New Conservatives caucuses.
“I expressed my view quite clearly,” says Jess, as the backlash built last night, culminating in Ms Elphicke putting out a statement on Thursday, which I understand was driven by Sir Keir Starmer’s office, apologising to the victims of her ex-husband.
Ms Elphicke, who took the Dover & Deal seat uncontested after her now ex-husband Charlie Elphicke, was convicted of sexual assault, had defended him and said his conviction had been a “terrible miscarriage of justice” as she described Mr Elphicke as an “easy target”.
On Thursday, she released a statement apologising about the comments she had made about victims.
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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.
“I have previously, and do, condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. It was right that he was prosecuted and I’m sorry for the comments that I made about his victims.
“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.”
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Defecting Tory hits out at Conservatives
I understand that she had privately expressed these views to Sir Keir Starmer when discussing joining Labour, and that the party had made these public amid the backlash the Labour leader was facing in light of her defection.
The Labour leader has made tackling violence against women and girls a key election pledge.
Jess says the apology was “an absolute start, but is also a bare minimum”.
“I’m going to give her a chance to talk to me personally. There is a part of that statement about abuse and harm that he caused to her as well.
“I’m not saying that to excuse her. I am saying that because I think that she provides us with a lesson of how we could actually prevent this going forward and have some sort of cultural shift. So I don’t excuse her and I will give her, like I would with any woman, I will give her a fair chance.”
Read more:
Tory MP Natalie Elphicke defects to Labour Party
Labour insists no place for Nigel Farage in party after defection of right-wing MP
Ruth Davidson, meanwhile, says the defection, coupled with those terrible local elections, means the PM is “tripping into beleaguered territory”.
“By the time this election comes in November or whenever it is. I mean, we could be beleaguered, we could be in the rear-view mirror by then. I mean, it could be falling apart by that point… I mean apocalyptic.”
A dysfunctional week all around, one way or another.
SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, expected to leave the agency in less than a month, used one of her final public speaking engagements to address the regulator’s response to digital assets.
Speaking at a Brookings Institution event on Thursday, Crenshaw said standards at the SEC had “eroded” in the last year, with “markets [starting] to look like casinos,” and “chaos” as the agency dismissed many years-long enforcement cases, reduced civil penalties and filed fewer actions overall.
The commissioner, expected to depart in January after her term officially ended in June 2024, also criticized many crypto users and the agency’s response to the markets.
“People invest in crypto because they see some others getting rich overnight,” said Crenshaw. “Less visible are the more common stories of people losing their shirts. One thing that consistently puzzles me about crypto is what are cryptocurrency prices based on? Many, but not all, crypto purchasers are not trading based on economic fundamentals.”
She added:
“I think it’s safe to say [crypto purchasers are] speculating, reacting to hysteria from promoters, feeding a desire to gamble, wash trading to push up prices, or, as one Nobel laureate has posited, ‘betting on the popularity of the politicians who support or stand to benefit from the success of crypto.’”
In contrast to Crenshaw’s remarks, SEC Chair Paul Atkins, Commissioner Hester Peirce and Commissioner Mark Uyeda have all publicly expressed their support for the agency’s approach to digital assets and the Trump administration’s direction of policy.
Peirce and Atkins spoke at a Blockchain Association Policy Summit this week to discuss crypto regulation and a path forward on market structure under consideration in the Senate.
Related: Crypto industry fears ‘vehemently anti crypto’ Caroline Crenshaw SEC vote
During the Thursday event’s question-and-answer session, Crenshaw expanded on her views of crypto, stating that it was a “tiny piece of the market,” and suggested that the SEC focus on other regulatory concerns. In addition, she expressed concern that the agency was heading toward giving crypto companies an exception from policies that applied to traditional finance.
“I do worry that as the crypto rules are perhaps implemented, or perhaps we just put out more guidance […] where we say they are not securities, where we loosen the basic fundamentals of the securities laws so that they can operate in our system, but without any of the guardrails that we have in place. I do worry that that can lead to more significant market contagion,” said Crenshaw.
The final throes of bipartisan financial regulators under Trump?
The departure of Crenshaw would leave the SEC with three Republican commissioners, two of whom were nominated by US President Donald Trump. As of Thursday, Trump had not made any announcements signaling that he ever planned to nominate another Democrat to the SEC, and Crenshaw said the agency’s staff had been reduced by about 20% in the last year.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also faces a dearth of leadership, with many commissioners leaving the agency in 2025. As of December, acting Chair Caroline Pham was the sole remaining CFTC commissioner and a Republican. However, the US Senate is soon expected to vote on Trump’s nominee, Michael Selig, to chair the agency after Pham.
Magazine: When privacy and AML laws conflict: Crypto projects’ impossible choice
The Belarusian Ministry of Information has blocked access to crypto exchanges Bybit, OKX, Bitget, Gate, Bingx and Weex, it said on Thursday.
According to a government announcement, the ministry has restricted access to the global domains of several crypto exchanges, citing “inappropriate advertising” under Article 511 of the Law on Mass Media.
Cointelegraph reached out to the blocked exchanges but had not received responses at the time of publication.
Belarus is a close ally of Russia on the world stage. The domain restriction comes on the same day that Vladimir Chistyukhin, first deputy chairman at the Central Bank of Russia, told state-backed outlet RIA Novosti that it “agreed to allow qualified investors” into the crypto market. The remarks build on recent reports that the institution was considering easing restrictions on cryptocurrencies in response to the sweeping sanctions imposed on the country.
Russia disclosed plans in late April to allow crypto access only to “super-qualified investors,” defined by wealth and income thresholds of over 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) or an annual income of at least 50 million rubles ($630,000), effectively limiting participation to high-net-worth individuals.
Related: EU sanctions Russian A7A5 stablecoin and crypto exchanges
Russia’s central bank sees crypto’s utility
Chistyukhin said a “crucial point that cannot be ignored” is that “cryptocurrencies are currently being used not only as an investment but also as a means of cross-border payments.” His comments echoed recent statements over allowing broader crypto access in Russia as a response to the international sanctions:
“We certainly want to protect Russian retail investors as much as possible from transactions with such a risky asset. On the other hand, we understand that, under the current circumstances, some international payments can only be made using cryptocurrency.“
Chistyukhin said there are currently about one million qualified investors able to access crypto assets in Russia, noting that investors would also be assessed on their knowledge of cryptocurrencies. He conceded that allowing non-qualified investors to access crypto is on the table, but said it would require extreme caution.
“Specifically, such investors could be granted access only to the most liquid instruments,” he said.
Chistyukhin highlighted the need for “establishing strict restrictions and prohibitions” and said “it’s expected that cryptocurrency transactions will be conducted primarily through existing market participants, under existing licenses,” adding that “anything outside this framework will be considered illegal.“
Magazine: When privacy and AML laws conflict: Crypto projects’ impossible choice
Trust Wallet, the self-custodial crypto wallet owned by Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has partnered with European fintech unicorn and digital banking giant Revolut to introduce a new way to purchase crypto assets on its platform.
Trust Wallet users can now buy Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) with Revolut through a direct integration, the company announced on Thursday.
With a minimum purchase starting at 10 euros ($12) and capped at 23,000 euros ($26,950) daily and per transaction, Trust Wallet’s new buy option is expected to provide a faster and easier way to access crypto from Europe.
In October, Revolut scored regulatory approval from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission to offer crypto services across 30 European Economic Area markets in compliance with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework.
Stablecoins like USDC not supported, for now
The integration will initially support only three crypto assets, but the companies said they expect to add stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC (USDC) at a later stage.
The feature enables zero-fee crypto purchases using multiple fiat currencies supported by Revolut, including the euro, the British pound, as well as the Czech koruna, Danish Krone, Polish Złoty and others.
While Revolut–Trust Wallet crypto purchases are offered with zero fees, adding money to a Revolut account is not free of charge in many cases, including via bank transfers, card top-ups and cash deposits. Cash deposits are subject to a 1.5% fee and are limited to $3,000 per calendar month, according to Revolut’s FAQs.
Related: Crypto self-custody is a fundamental right, says SEC’s Hester Peirce
The integration came shortly after Revolut secured a $75 billion company valuation after completing a private share sale in late November. “This makes us Europe’s most valuable private company and in the top 10 of the world’s most valuable private companies,” Revolut said in a post on X.
CZ-backed Trust Wallet has been actively tapping into trending market sectors, including prediction markets and real-world asset tokenization, expanding access to these offerings for self-custody users.
Cointelegraph contacted Revolut and Trust Wallet for comment on the integration, but had not received a response by publication.
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