Turncoat MP Natalie Elphicke 'lobbied Justice Secretary to pull strings to help ... trends now
A Labour MP who defected from the Tories last week has been accused of trying to exert ‘improper’ influence over her ex-husband’s trial for sexual assault by personally lobbying the Justice Secretary, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal.
Natalie Elphicke, whose switch to Sir Keir Starmer’s party this week triggered a fierce Labour backlash, faces claims that she complained to Sir Robert Buckland about the judge who presided over Charlie Elphicke’s 2020 trial for sexually assaulting two women.
Sources have told The Mail on Sunday that when Ms Elphicke complained about Lady Justice Whipple, Sir Robert reacted furiously and pointed out that it would be wrong for him to interfere.
Last night Sir Robert said: 'She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappopriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all.'
The claims will prove embarrassing for Sir Keir – a former Director of Public Prosecutions.
Natalie Elphicke supporting her husband Charlie at Southwark Crown Court in 2020
The extraordinary clash came after Elphicke’s trial was listed as one of the first cases after the first Covid lockdown.
The sources said that Ms Elphicke asked Sir Mark Spencer, then Chief Whip, to arrange a meeting with the Justice Secretary under the guise of ‘discussing the justice system’.
But during the exchange, in Sir Robert’s Commons office, Ms Elphicke ‘went straight in all guns blazing’ to complain about the timing of the case – on the grounds that, as one of the first in-person trials after the first lockdown, there would be a disproportionate amount of media interest.
She objected to the seniority of Lady Justice Whipple, who was then a High Court judge, which she implied would contribute to the publicity the case attracted, and suggested that the judge's prominence made it more likely that she would 'throw the book' at her husband.
She is also understood to have argued that the trial should be ‘split’ between the two assault claims, which the sources understood to be a bid to lessen the likelihood of his conviction.
Last night, Ms Elphicke denied that ‘characterisation of the meeting’ with Sir Robert.
Elphicke, who lost the Tory whip in 2017 when the allegations were referred to the police, stood down as Dover MP in 2019 – and was succeeded by his wife. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
In a further apparent case of attempted interference, Ms Elphicke used parliamentary-headed paper to write to Dame Kathryn Thirlwall, Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales, and Dame Victoria Sharp, President of the Queen’s Bench Division, to make representations at pre-sentencing hearings.
Her actions led to her being suspended by the House of Commons Committee on Standards for ‘an attempt improperly to influence judicial proceedings’.
A friend of Sir Robert said 'Lady Justice Whipple (pictured) has a very good reputation'
Right-wing Ms Elphicke’s defection – and that followed fellow former Tory MP Dan Poulter's move two weeks ago – has angered many Labour MPs, with one
