Is Chuka ready to chuck Labour?
ARE moderate Labour MPs, denied a voice on the conference platform, now wooing donors to build up a war chest to fund a breakaway political party?
I ask only because the latest Register of MPs’ interests reveals some intriguing donations made to the office of Chuka Umunna, an exshadow business secretary.
Many frustrated Labour MPs believe he is best placed to deliver them from the political wilderness.
The register shows that Umunna received £25,000 from Sir Victor Blank, the former chairman of Lloyds TSB, who has been a generous supporter of Labour in the past. He gave £150,000 in the run-up to the 2015 election when Red Ed Miliband was leader.
Umunna was also handed £15,000 by property tycoon Sir David Garrard, who gave around £700,000 to Labour — before Corbyn was leader. And he’s garnered £5,000 from Lord Myners, the former M&S chairman who was City minister under Gordon Brown.
The MP for Streatham since 2010, Umunna ran — briefly — for the Labour leadership in 2015. He withdrew citing a desire to protect his private life from scrutiny.
In public he insists he’s loyal to Labour, telling the New Statesman: ‘I’m quite tribal about this. The only way you’re going to have progress in this country is through the Labour Party.’
But he’s more estranged than ever from the leadership after tabling a rebel amendment in June to the Queen’s Speech on Brexit which would keep Britain in the single market should the Prime Minister fail to negotiate a deal.
Forty-nine Labour MPs, including four frontbenchers — who were later sacked by Comrade Corbyn — backed it.
Umunna will not be forgiven by the Corbynistas, which is why he might just be tempted to jump ship.