Natalie Elphicke says claims she lobbied justice secretary over ex-husband’s trial are ‘nonsense’
Accusations MP Natalie Elphicke lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s sex offences trial are “nonsense”, her spokesperson has said.
It is claimed the Dover MP, who recently defected from Conservative to Labour, approached Sir Robert Buckland when he was lord chancellor and justice secretary before the hearing of Charlie Elphicke’s case.
The Sunday Times reported that she allegedly told Sir Robert that it was unfair the case was the first to be heard at Southwark Crown Court after the COVID lockdown and that it was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple.
One person present viewed her comments as a bid to have the case moved to a lower-profile court to spare her partner public scrutiny, while another saw it as an attempt to replace the senior judge, according to the newspaper.
Charlie Elphicke, pictured in 2020. Pic: PA
Sir Robert reportedly told the paper he rejected her plea, suggesting his intervention could undermine the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers between parliament and the judiciary.
“She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all,” Sir Robert said in a statement.
In a statement responding to the claims, also published in The Mail on Sunday, a spokesman for Ms Elphicke said: “This is nonsense.
“It’s certainly true that Mr Elphicke continued to be supported after his imprisonment by a large number of Conservative MPs who had known him for a long time, including some who visited him and independently lobbied on his behalf, which was nothing to do with Natalie.”
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A Labour Party spokesman said Ms Elphicke “totally rejects that characterisation of the meeting”.
“If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party,” the spokesman said.
Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth also questioned the timing of the report, telling Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “She said that is nonsense and not her interpretation of the meeting. I obviously wasn’t in the meeting so I don’t know.
“If this happened at the time, then why did the lord chancellor not raise this issue at the time through his good offices?”
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron was also asked about the claims, but told Sky News: “I have absolutely no idea, so I’ve got really nothing to add.”
Elphicke defection ‘naked opportunism’
He went onto attack Labour for “naked opportunism” in allowing Ms Elphicke to join the party.
He said: “I’m not a fan of defectors. I think it always leaves a legacy of upset and betrayal, and everything else.
“I thought this was just naked opportunism, by Labour as much as anything.
“This is quite a right-wing Conservative MP suddenly welcomed into the Labour fold having never supported any of their policies, people or approaches.
“The revealing thing is it was like a moment where you look at the Labour Party and think – if you don’t stand for anything, then you’ll fall for stuff like this.”
Sir Robert Buckland
Ms Elphicke’s former husband and predecessor as MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke, was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting two women and jailed for two years.
She ended the marriage after his conviction but supported his unsuccessful appeal, saying Mr Elphicke had been “attractive, and attracted to women” and “an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations”.
Ms Elphicke allegedly also tried to secure him better prison conditions, asking for more comfortable pillows, The Sunday Times reported, something she also denied.
Read more from Sky News:
Natalie Elphicke apologises for supporting sex offender ex-husband
What happens when an MP defects to another party?
Following news of Ms Elphicke’s defection this week, Labour MPs raised concerns about the decision to admit her to the party, citing her comments about Mr Elphicke’s case and his victims.
In a statement on Thursday, she said she condemned “his behaviour towards other women and towards me”, adding it was “right that he was prosecuted” and she was “sorry for the comments that I made about his victims”.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
Read more:
How UK North Sea platforms dump gas
Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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