Maybe I woke up more cynical this morning, but...
Hoping to save her job, much?
I think it really shows how far right Labour has shifted that they even accepted the move
The Labour Party has already gone through the process of selecting a candidate for that seat. If she'd defected before that had happened she could have put herself forward for reselection (and there's a different process for that), but that ship has long sailed. The candidate is the candidate, and it's not her.
Usually when MPs defect the receiving party tries to find them a safe seat to defend come the election. Otherwise what would the point be?
There are hardly any seats left which haven't selected a Labour candidate at this point. All of the safe seats were done ages ago. The handful that are left vacant are all the absolute no-hopers for Labour where nobody really cares who the candidate is because they're not going to win anyway.
Any defectors hoping to go that route have long since missed the boat. They'd have had to have jumped ship a year or two ago.
Point scoring against the government. I'm not knowledgeable on this so please could you give me an example of when a defecting MP has been given a safe seat?
Insane how people are defending this just because it harms the Tories. Do labour supporters have no principles at all?
It's perfect for Labour. They get to shower Rishi in shit until the general election and then quietly deselect her or move her aside for an actual candidate. Why wouldn't you?
Principles
Maybe its hard for the current labour party to understand that, but the party of the workers should not welcome hardcore right wingers no matter what the circumstances are
Principles
but the party of the workers should not welcome hardcore right wingers no matter what the circumstances are
I think you've got principles and policies mixed up. What you've described is a policy.
A principle for a party of workers might be: To champion workers rights for the betterment of society.
A policy for that principle could be: to not accept right wing nutters into your party because they are inherently anti worker.
But equally another policy could be: publicly humilate incumbent anti worker government in an election cycle by accepting a defector from their party knowing full well it will be temporary because they're standing down in the next election.
In a crucial election year one policy is infinitely better than the other.
This government don't need any more humiliation, this only humiliated Labour by having a former member of the government be allowed to sit among them
That's not how the news cycle sees it. If we are to believe the left wing rhetoric that the entire media is against Labour always and forever then the media proclaiming a win for Starmer and a humiliation for Sunak speaks volumes. And that's what most of the electorate will see as well.
There are two points here, and I'm going to sidestep whether her joining Labour is a good idea and focus on the other.
This government don't need any more humiliation
I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with this. We have seen repeatedly that people's memories are like goldfish. You have to keep it up for an extended period to stick, otherwise we will end up with the news cycle burying positive news for boosting the Tories.
All it takes is a bad angle of a bacon sandwich, and the press vultures will completely blow up any negative thing they can to derail Labour.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-welcomes-right-wing-tory-labour
One Tory MP tweeted today that it was impossible to find a Conservative in the Commons who regarded themselves as further to the right and many were outraged at her hypocrisy.
Succeeding her husband Charlie in the Dover seat after he was convicted of sex offences, she attacked her husband’s victims and was suspended from the Commons because she had “improperly sought to influence judicial proceedings” in relation to the case.
Sounds like a lovely lady.
Not really a fan of her being in the Labour party. Think that was quite unnecessary -- Starmer is going to win the next election with or without this woman. And what specifically about the Labour Party's aims and values resonate with her? When you join the Labour party as a member, it's not like subscribing to Amazon Prime. It means you have to actually agree to the aims and values of the Labour Party as described in Clause IV, which begins "The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party," and includes things like "promotes equality of opportunity" and "delivers people from ... prejudice". Does she agree with any of that? I'm very confused as to how a right wing ERG member could possibly want to join a democratic socialist party, let alone agree with its broader aims and values.
The merit of permitting her to cross the aisle and sit as a Labour MP is obvious, but so is the cost. I didn't like it when all those antisemites joined under Corbyn's leadership, and I don't like this now.
