Really this story shines the Tories in a worse light that Labour because the Tories (ie Buckland) already knew that Elphicke had asked a colleague to swing a trial, whereas Labour did not know.
So, yes. I'm not going to gainsay those that opposed Elphicke's entrance into the Labour party because it turns out it has, in a damp squib sort of way, blown up in their faces, albeit for entirely different reasons than predicted by the sceptics.
As for the garage story, we'll, it is just a story. Telegraph journalists have done a search on her and discovered she has a planning application. They've then linked her defection to what they claim is a Labour controlled planning committee.
Of course, this is not evidence of anything. It strikes me as highly unlikely that Starmer would risk everything for the putative gain of a Tory defection.
