LONDON   -   Britain’s ruling Conservatives on Wednesday suffered their second defection to the main opposition Labour party in as many weeks, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor in the House of Commons just moments before Sunak’s weekly grilling by lawmakers, adding to his woes after heavy losses for the Tories in English local elections last week. Elphicke is MP for Dover, on the south coast of England, which is heavily affected by the small boat crossings from northern Europe which Sunak has vowed to stop. But she criticised the Tories’ “dramatic” lurch from the centre to the right since she was elected in Boris Johnson’s landslide election win in 2019, and cited concerns over “housing and the safety and security of our borders” as prompting her move. MP Dan Poulter -- a qualified medical doctor -- announced last month that he had defected to Labour, saying only they could be trusted to reform the state-run National Health Service (NHS).