Penny Mordaunt jokes she is ‘too left wing’ to join Labour after Elphicke defection

Speaking after deserving the weekly business statement on Thursday morning, leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt joked that she is “too left wing” to defect to the Labour Party.

Responding to a question from Conservative MP Ian Liddell-Grainger, Mordaunt said: “Can I reassure the honourable gentleman that I am not about to defect to the opposition benches? They wouldn’t be interested in me – I’m too left wing!”

It comes after the defection of Natalie Elphicke from the Conservatives to Labour on Wednesday afternoon. Elphicke, a former member of the European Research Group, was considered to be on the right of the Conservative Party.

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