Natalie Elphicke’s defection from the Conservatives to Labour was driven by “ulterior motives”, Health Minister Maria Caulfield has claimed.
She said on GB News: “Natalie's not standing again. I think we all acknowledge there are ulterior motives for that switch to Labour.
“It's not necessarily because of disillusionment within the Conservative Party. She's got an agenda of her own, which is very disappointing, and I think the public have seen very clearly through that.
“I think actually the Labour Party have suffered as a result of these political games, the public do not want these political games. They want a government that's getting on and delivering for the people. That's what the Prime Minister is doing.”
In a discussion with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, she was asked about the prospect of further defections.
She said: “Well, I'm not worried about defections. I'm worried about getting on and delivering for the country.
“I’ve just announced today that we're releasing more medical places to train more doctors. We're increasing the number of midwives. We've got 21,000 extra nurses this year.
“The PM is going to be setting out what we're doing in defence, in support of the defence of the nation and the threats we're facing. The economy is turning a corner, we've got bigger growth than countries like Germany, France and Spain.
“The country is turning a corner now. If Labour just wants to play games around defections of Tory MPs that's up to them. We're getting on and delivering for the British people.”
She added: “We are the only party promising to increase defence funding by 2.5%.
“The Labour Party hasn’t committed to that at all…we are the only party committing to increasing defence spending because we recognise the serious threats that we are facing.”
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