Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly e-newsletter.UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s hopes of reviving flagging Tory spirits had been dealt a blow on Wednesday after Natalie Elphicke turned the second Conservative MP in as many weeks to defect to the Labour get together.In a dramatic transfer Elphicke, MP for Dover, crossed the ground within the Home of Commons moments earlier than the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions.She lashed out on the “damaged guarantees of Rishi Sunak’s drained and chaotic authorities” and cited his report on “housing and the security and security of our borders” as the important thing components behind her resolution. The transfer, which got here out of the blue, was welcomed by Labour chief Sir Keir Starmer as proof “the Tory get together has modified, it’s left the centre floor”. However it angered some leftwingers inside the primary opposition get together, on condition that Elphicke was on the best of the Conservative get together on some points together with immigration. Her defection got here lower than two weeks after Dan Poulter, Tory MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, stated he was becoming a member of Labour as a result of he couldn’t look NHS colleagues and sufferers “within the eye with good conscience”.It additionally got here hours earlier than Sunak and his technique guru Isaac Levido had been set to temporary Conservative MPs in Downing Avenue on the overall election nationwide marketing campaign, with one other session set to happen subsequent week. In her resignation assertion Elphicke, a former supporter of Boris Johnson, hit out at Sunak’s function within the “coup” that pushed Johnson out of Downing Avenue two years in the past and solid herself as a centrist. Natalie Elphicke turned MP for Dover in December 2019, changing her then husband Charlie Elphicke, who had stood down after being charged with sexual assault. In July 2020, he was discovered responsible of three counts of sexual assault towards two girls. That yr, Natalie Elphicke was criticised by the office of the lord chief justice of England and Wales for an “improper” try to affect a decide listening to the trial of her then husband. Accusing the Tories of abandoning the centre floor of British politics, she stated on Wednesday: “The fashionable Labour get together seems to be to the long run — to building a Britain of hope, optimism, alternative and equity.”Elphicke additionally stated Sunak’s authorities had did not construct sufficient properties, with final yr seeing “the most important fall of recent housing begins in England in a single yr because the credit score crunch”. She is anticipated to take up an unpaid function advising Labour on housing, an space wherein she labored earlier than getting into parliament. Elphicke, who has a majority of 12,278 in Dover, will step down on the basic election and never exchange Labour’s present candidate, Mike Tapp. Sunak’s spokesperson stated Elphicke would “have to elucidate to her constituents” why her stance on Labour’s migration policy had modified, noting that her X profile was a “treasure trove” of criticism of the opposition get together’s plans to deal with small boats.Forward of the Quantity 10 briefing, one minister warned that MPs had been possible to offer Sunak and Levido harsh suggestions about the federal government’s route following disastrous native election outcomes, and pose questions on what eye-catching measures could be rolled out earlier than voters subsequent went to the polls.“Morale is poor and the native election outcomes had been even worse, however we’ve got to maintain pushing on,” the minister stated, including that they needed to know what Sunak had “within the locker” within the lead-up to the overall election. RecommendedThe Downing Avenue briefings begin a day after Tory chair Richard Holden and workers at Conservative Marketing campaign Headquarters launched a collection of regional briefings for Conservative MPs, providing extra granular recommendation on native messaging and leaflets. Despair was felt throughout the governing get together after it misplaced about half of the council seats it was defending final week, the Blackpool South by-election and mayoral contests together with the West Midlands. Sunak’s suggestion over the financial institution vacation weekend that Britain was heading for a hung parliament on the basic election additional angered senior Tories. His declare was based mostly on an evaluation of the native election outcomes by Professor Michael Thrasher, which prompt the primary opposition Labour get together could be the most important get together however fall wanting an total majority.Different pollsters have solid doubt on the evaluation, nevertheless, noting it assumed Labour would expertise a repeat of its 2019 basic election lead to Scotland, when the get together gained just one seat. In accordance with the Monetary Instances’ basic election ballot tracker, Labour has a 20-point lead over the Conservatives. Video: Sketchy Politics: can something save Sunak?