The New Statesman.

Hello, I'm Hannah Barnes, associate editor at The New Statesman and this is an episode we like to call you ask us. We've had lots of questions come in this week

about defection prompted by that surprise and somewhat contentious defection of

the once conservative MP for Dover and Deal Natalie Elphick to Labour last week.

To help guide us through I'm joined in the studio by Rachel Kunleff, our associate political editor at

the New Statesman and down the line by David

Gork, former Conservative MP for Southwest Hertfordshire and New Statesman columnist.

Thank you both for joining us. Okay so we did cover the El Fick

Defection on the podcast last week but things were still very very fresh it

just happened. Have things settled down now do you think or is this going to continue to

plague both Rishi Sunak and Kiestarma? Who wants to kick us off? Rachel?

Well we've had a week of speculation that there would be a third, a hat trick of

defections, down paul to one week, Natalie Elphick the next, was there going to be a third?

And it all got a bit over the top in PMQ to the 4 PMQs this week as MPs were filing

into the chamber on the labor benches every time a Conservative came in they went

whoa to see if they would sit down next to Kiestarma

and then they went and sat down on the conservative benches.

It was, ah.

And it was quite funny, but it was also really quite unserious and there were some serious like

business going on at the house at the time. Kimmy Baden was answering

a qualities questions some of which were you know on quite substantive issues and it had this sort of playground mentality.

Anyway, there wasn't another defection.

...