Labour MP calls for Natalie Elphicke to be suspended over lobbying claims

Ms Duffield, the Labour MP for Canterbury, said Ms Elphicke should be suspended from the parliamentary party – which means having the whip withdrawn – pending the outcome of an investigation.

Speaking to the BBC, she said: “I think that if the shoe was on the other foot, if she was still officially a Conservative MP, we would rightly be calling for this to be thoroughly investigated and that’s what should happen in this case.”

She drew a comparison with Diane Abbott’s suspension for remarks about racism and added “in other serious cases, like sexual allegations, before the investigation is finished the whip is removed and people suspended temporarily”.

When it was put to her that the Labour Party was not planning to investigate, she said: “I think that’s hugely hypocritical and I think anybody watching would think, ‘well hang on, if that was a Tory MP that’s exactly what we’d be calling for from the dispatch box’ and therefore that should apply when it’s one of our own MPs, which apparently Natalie now is.”

She added she had “no reason to believe” Sir Robert, who was justice secretary and Lord Chancellor at the time, “has any reason to make this up”, calling him “a greatly respected MP”.