ANAS Sarwar has found himself at odds with UK Labour as he said he found the party’s newest MP Natalie Elphicke’s previous comments “reprehensible”.
Keir Starmer welcomed the MP for Dover into the Labour Party with open arms, although some in his party were left unhappy with the Tory defector’s decision.
Following her move from the Tories, Elphicke has been forced to apologise for comments she made supporting her ex-husband after he was convicted of sexual assault.
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar defends Scottish Labour candidates based in England
Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was asked what he made of the move.
“Look, I don’t know Natalie Elphicke, I’ve never met Natalie Elphicke. Looking at some of the comments that have been attributed to her or that she has said, I find them completely unacceptable, I don’t agree with them,” he said.
Pressed on what he would have done had Elphicke asked to join Scottish Labour, Sarwar (below) responded: “Well, look, she certainly wouldn’t be a Scottish Labour candidate, I can be really clear about that.
“But what I am looking forward to seeing is Mike Tapp actually our Labour candidate in Dover and Deal winning that seat and helping deliver a UK Labour government.
“So where I agree with Natalie Elphicke is that Rishi Sunak is a disaster, his time is done, he’s squatting in Downing Street, he needs to call an election and he hasn’t got the right priorities for the country.
“On that I agree with Natalie Elphicke but in terms of her wider comments, as I say, I don’t find them agreeable and some of them I think reprehensible.”
Again asked if Elphicke should be a Labour MP, Sarwar said: “Well she’s gonna be a Labour MP for a matter of weeks, I hope, because we are heading towards a General Election.”
He added it was for Elphicke to explain her “Damascene conversion” to Labour beliefs and that his priority was to focus to convince voters who had previously supported other parties to vote for his party.
In contrast to Sarwar, Starmer has said he was “delighted” with Elphicke’s defection, saying it showed his party was “the party of the national interest”.
Following her defection, Elphicke has also been accused of lobbying the justice secretary in 2020 to interfere in her then-husband’s trial although she has denied this.
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