​Conservatives are unable to stop the boatloads of defectors - Vladimir McTavish

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer welcomes former Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke in his parliamentary office in the House of Commons following her defection to Labour (Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

​​Not only have the Tories lost millions of voters in the last few weeks, they appear to be haemorrhaging MPs to Labour almost as quickly.

The latest to cross the floor of the House was the Honourable Member for Dover, Natalie Elphicke, who was welcomed with open arms by Keir Starmer.

Other Labour members are understandably less than enthusiastic about their latest recruit, as her stated views on a number of issues do not appear to fit with Labour values.

One of her key priorities is “the safety and security of our borders” which we all know to be shorthand for all manner of racist views.

She has previously criticised Starmer for being “soft” on human rights and migration. She now states that she sees Labour as embracing the political mainstream.

Do they really want the endorsement of people like her?

Former deputy leader John McDonnell came up with the priceless comment that "I'm a great believer in the powers of conversion, but I think even this one would have strained the generosity of spirit of John the Baptist."

While it was humiliating for Rishi Sunak to lose such a keen member of the ‘Stop The Boats’ brigade, he will have been further chastened by last week’s local council and mayoral election results, where they took a pasting throughout the length and breadth of England.

This pummelling at the polls happened despite the Tories trying to rig the electoral system in their favour.

For the first time, voters had to show photo ID at polling stations. The only acceptable documents were a passport, driving licence, disabled blue badge or OAP bus pass.

This will potentially disenfranchise people who do not have the money for foreign travel and those who cannot afford to drive a car.

This clearly will have excluded a lot of younger citizens from voting, as well as many people on low incomes. Which many suspect was the aim all along, as these are two groups who are traditionally less likely to vote Tory.

When the law was brought in by Boris Johnson, he said it was to combat election fraud. However, given that election fraud is a minuscule problem, it was widely seen as gerrymandering.

It is unclear how many people were turned away at the polling booths. The only incident to receive any publicity involved Boris Johnson himself.

When the former PM turned up at his local polling station, he was turned away for not having the necessary ID. His Peppa Pig World membership card was obviously not on the list of acceptable documents.

This was quite right and proper as he had no photographic evidence to prove that he was who he said he was, and not some random shambolic buffoon who had been dragged through a hedge backwards.

It would be quite easy to pass yourself as Boris Johnson simply by sleeping in your clothes and cutting your own hair.

Of course, it should come as no surprise that Boris should not comply with laws that he himself has introduced. Partygate is evidence of that.

Ironically, Johnson was turning up to cast his vote for the new police and crime commissioner. I’m guessing for the candidate most likely to turn a blind eye?

It’s amazing the Tories didn’t lose more MPs when that clown was party leader.