Defector MP and 'Strictly Come Darting'

Senior Conservatives tell the Observer that Natalie Elphicke defected to Labour because she was never made a minister. An unnamed cabinet source claims the former Conservative MP had become bitter about being passed over for a senior role, first by former Prime Minister Liz Truss, then Rishi Sunak.

There is no response from Ms Elphicke but the paper comments that the Conservative Party is looking for ways to undermine the MP for Dover.

Describing Ms Elphicke as a "turncoat MP", the Mail on Sunday says allegations that she asked former justice secretary Robert Buckland to pull strings for her ex-husband could prove embarrassing for her new party leader, Sir Keir Starmer. As the paper points out, he is a former director of public prosecutions.

The Sunday Telegraph has more details on the reported crackdown on Civil Service positions devoted solely to diversity. Senior managers will be ordered not to hire staff dedicated to boosting diversity, equality and inclusion. Staff already there whose jobs are focussed only on diversity will be moved to Human Resources teams and given broader job specs, it reports.

Cabinet Office Minister Esther McVey tells the paper she is concerned Whitehall managers are becoming distracted by what she calls "woke hobby horses" rather than delivering their core function.

The Telegraph also reports that Russia is recruiting far-right extremists to carry out attacks in the UK and other Nato countries. Intelligence sources have told it that undercover agents of the GRU - the Russian military intelligence service - and members of the Russian mercenary group Wagner have got people to carry out a number of attacks in western Europe and the US over the past six months.

It is thought the Kremlin is copying Iran's lead and encouraging criminal gangs to carry out proxy terrorist attacks, the paper reports.

The Sun on Sunday welcomes proposals which could see extreme protest groups banned. In an editorial, the paper says that although the plans will "provoke howls" of outrage from civil liberties groups, they are not an attack on freedom but a defence of it.

Unnamed friends of the King tell the Sunday Times that he agreed to a request from the Duke of Sussex to let him stay in a royal residence during last week's trip to London, because he no longer has an official UK home. In the end, he is thought to have chosen to stay in a hotel.

The King and his youngest son did not meet during Prince Harry's visit. Friends of the King say that if Harry had stayed in a royal residence, it would have made a meeting logistically easier.

Finally, the Sunday Telegraph reports that dog walkers who allow their animals to attack livestock could have their pets seized by police. New laws being drawn up by the government will give officers "beefed up" powers to detain dogs they believe have attacked or worried livestock.

The paper says farmers believe the problem has been made worse by "lockdown puppies" - dogs bought during the pandemic, which are less socialised than normal because of Covid restrictions when they were young.

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