Diane Abbott urges same Labour 'generosity' as given to Tory defector Natalie Elphicke

Veteran MP Diane Abbott chided the Labour leadership on Friday after Tory rightwinger Natalie Elphicke was welcomed into the party while she herself remains suspended after more than a year.

Sir Keir Starmer has been battling an outcry in Labour ranks over his decision to admit the Dover MP but continue to deny a return to Ms Abbott, Britain’s first black woman MP who is still under investigation over an antisemitism row.

There has been particular anger among some Labour MPs at the way Ms Elphicke stood by her then husband during his trial and after his conviction for sexual assault in 2020.

After her shock defection to Labour this week, she apologised for suggesting that the women who had accused Charlie Elphicke were liars.

Ms Abbott tweeted: “Natalie Elphicke is right to apologise.

“The decision to accept it 5 years after she first said it is unusual. Not everyone is treated with such generosity.”

Asked why the party had accepted the Dover MP’s apologies but not those of Ms Abbott, allies of Sir Keir have said an independent investigation is still ongoing into the veteran left-winger and the leadership will not interfere in it.

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was suspended from the parliamentary Labour party last April for appearing in a letter to the Observer to diminish racism against Jewish people.

She withdrew her remarks and apologised "for any anguish caused" but still remains deprived of the Labour whip.

It comes as London MP Nickie Aiken denied she was also planning to quit the Tories amid rumours she was on a Labour list of potential defectors.

The MP for Cities of London & Westminster said: “Having been informed by journalists that I’m on a Labour list of possible defectors I would like to confirm I’m going nowhere.

“The Conservatives is and always will be my political home, and I’m definitely far too left wing for the current [Labour party].”

Sir Keir on Friday was joined by Ms Elphicke on a visit to Deal in her Kent constituency, as he announced proposals to counter people-smuggling gangs behind the cross-Channel crossings of small boats.

He told reporters that politics should be “less tribal” and suggested he was open to “reasonably minded people” from other parties joining Labour.

Asked where he would draw the line, Sir Keir said “a list of names doesn’t help anyone but Nigel Farage wouldn’t want to join Labour”.

However, the Labour leader added that he wanted to “bring as many people with us as possible”.

Ms Elphicke had previously attacked Labour’s approach to the small boats crisis, and has also apologised for a string of contentious remarks including an attack on footballer and free school meals campaigner Marcus Rashford.

She told Labour supporters in Deal on Friday that Rishi Sunak had “failed to keep our borders secure”.Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting said he has spoken to more Tories considering a defection because of the “division and incompetence” of Mr Sunak’s Government.

But the shadow health secretary insisted the party would not accept just any MP after it was mocked online in a series of memes - including one that portrayed the biblical king Herod as the party’s new spokesman for children.

For the Conservatives, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said Sir Keir’s acceptance of Ms Elphicke was “remarkable” when the party has “no room” for Ms Abbott or former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is also suspended from the Labour whip.

Mr Tugendhat told Sky News: “And I like Keir, he’s a decent guy, but I have no idea what he stands for.”