A warning tale for the 3 Egos
ANY Tory MPs this weekend wrestling with the idea of joining the miniexodus from their party need to consider the case of one Christopher Brocklebank-Fowler. His name probably does not ring a bell for many readers. Yet in the early 1980s, the largely-forgotten former MP for North West Norfolk briefly caused a political sensation by defecting from Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives to join the then newly formed Social Democratic Party.
Mr Brocklebank-Fowler was the only Tory MP to cross the Commons floor to the fledgling centre party. He lost his seat at the 1983 general election, failed in several further attempts to return to Westminster and faded into obscurity. The SDP, formed to break the mould of British politics, went the same way.
His fate should be a chastening lesson for Tory turncoats Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston and any colleagues thinking of joining them in The Independent Group of MPs set up by former Labour rebels this week.
The trio of defectors all wore broad grins while nestling into their new perches on the Opposition benches shortly before Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. Westminster’s history, so often determined by the brutal realities of the first-past-the-post electoral system, suggests the path they have chosen will not lead to happiness.
Brexiteer Tories were not sorry to see the self-styled Three Amigos depart. “They are more like the three Big Egos,” one Tory MP told me, adding: “They were never real Conservatives. We’re better off without them.”
MEMBERS of The Independent Group (TIG) were quickly dubbed the Tiggers in Parliament after the initials of their bland adopted name. Ms Allen has already rebranded herself as “TIGger MP for South Cambridgeshire” on her Twitter account. Like Tigger in AA Milne’s The House At Pooh Corner, they appear to have plenty of enthusiasm coupled with little sense of direction. “Bouncing is what Tiggers do best,” says Pooh’s chum in the children’s classic.
At the rather doleful launch of the group on Monday, the former Labour Tiggers led by the ex-shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna seemed set on building a decent, moderate and patriotic alternative to the communist personality cult that Labour has become under the hard-Left leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. When the Tory defectors held a rather more celebratory news conWestminster. ference two days later, their aim appeared to be to replace their former party. “If we do our jobs right, there won’t be a Tory Party to go back to,” said Ms Allen. Seeking to destroy both the Tory and Labour parties is a little over-ambitious even for a gang of politicians with such resources of self-belief as the Tiggers. Already, Britain’s newest political force appears deeply divided about where to head next.
A more realistic aim might be to replace the Lib Dems. Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, should be the most worried party leader at His party remains tainted by involvement in David Cameron’s coalition in the eyes of many voters. Lib Dems have only themselves to blame, having spent much of their time in office demonising their own government and the years since then distancing themselves from their brush with power.
Sir Vince and the Independent Group are already in talks that could lead to a non-aggression pact in the short term and perhaps an eventual merger. Both sides have something the others lack. The independents have a shiny, new brand but no members or party structure while Lib Dems have a grassroots network and an experienced electioneering machine but a tarnished image.
Wherever they head, the Tiggers need to make their minds up quickly if they aspire to be anything more than a diverting subplot in the saga of Brexit. The late Roy Jenkins, the leader of the SDP in its heyday, once insisted he did not want to “play a fuddled fiddle in the muddled middle”. So far, that muddled middle looks like exactly the spot that the irrepressible Tiggers will end up bouncing.