THE GANG OF SEVEN
Rebel MPs quit in protest over Corbyn stance on Brexit and his handling of anti-Semitism
MONTHS of mounting anger at Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of anti-Semitism claims, Brexit and his brand of politics exploded yesterday as seven Labour MPs quit the party.
Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Luciana Berger, Angela Smith, Ann Coffey, Gavin Shuker and Mike Gapes resigned their memberships in a co-ordinated move aimed at piling maximum pressure on the leader.
Resisting calls for by-elections, this “Gang of Seven” will sit as the Independent Group, in the most significant split in British politics since the Social Democratic Party breakaway almost four decades ago.
Ms Berger, who is Jewish, said it had been “a very difficult, painful, but necessary decision” triggered after she became “embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the Labour Party”.
She said: “I have not changed. The core values of equality for all, opportunity for all, anti-racism against all and social justice, the values which I hold really dear and which led me to join the Labour Party as a student almost 20 years ago remain who I am.
“And yet these values have been consistently and constantly violated, undermined and attacked, as the Labour Party today refuses to put my constituents and our country before party interests.
“I cannot remain in a party which, I have come to the sickening conclusion, is institutionally anti-Semitic.”
The group, which is backing a second EU referendum, launched a website yesterday with the key message: “Politics is broken. Let’s change it.”
Expectation of a Labour split had been building for months but it became official at 10.05am yesterday.
The seven sent individual emails to party HQ before walking on stage at London’s County Hall to confirm their decision.
Former Shadow Chancellor Mr Leslie claimed Labour had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left”. Mr Gapes said he was “sickened the Labour Party is now a racist, anti-Semitic party” and “furious the Labour leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit”.
Ms Coffey said: “Any criticism of the leadership is responded to with abuse and accusations of treachery. Anti-Semitism is rife and tolerated.” Luton South MP Mr Shuker believed the party was “riddled with anti-Semitism, it presents a threat to
It’s a very difficult, painful but necessary decision
LUCIANA BERGER ON LEAVING LABOUR PARTY
our national security and it’s perfectly content to enable the hard Tory Brexit that will directly and negatively affect people in Luton”.
Addressing potential converts directly, one-time Labour leadership hopeful Mr Umunna said: “We’ve taken the first step in leaving the old tribal politics behind and we invite others who share our political values to do so too.”
Last night party chairman Ian Lavery addressed a “heated” meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party.
Witnesses said Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth wept as she accused chiefs of doing too little to tackle anti-Semitism and claimed her friend Ms Berger was forced out of the party.
Speaking after the meeting, Corbyn critic Ian Austin agreed that Ms Berger had been “driven out”.
He added: “I think constructive dismissal is a pretty good way of summing this up.”
Asked if he was pushed any closer to joining the rebels, Mr Austin said: “I think people will be thinking about what’s happened today and over the last weeks and months.”
The breakaway MPs had “moral” worries about standing under the Labour umbrella with Mr Corbyn as leader, believing he would be a threat to national security if he became PM.
Moderates have said privately that during the June 2017 election campaign they told voters they were electing a local MP with no chance of Labour winning power or Mr Corbyn entering No10.
But the shock surge which denied Theresa
May a majority left them stunned. They could not “play the same card” at the next election where, they fear, Mr Corbyn could claim the keys to Downing Street. Festering anger over his response to last year’s Salisbury novichok nerve agent attack, antiSemitism and his failure to back a second EU vote fuelled the split. The moderates were especially outraged at an “oath of loyalty” circulating on social media this month where MPs were urged to support the party no matter who its leader is. But the group’s complaints went far beyond Mr Corbyn’s leadership and spread to the party hierarchy. This included the close band of aides surrounding the leader, the “takeover” of Labour’s ruling national executive committee, and the party’s direction under general secretary Jennie Formby. Unite union boss Len McCluskey said there was a “strong whiff of hypocrisy” about the resignations and claimed ”splitters” had “no stomach for a fight for Labour’s core values”. He added: “The issue about anti-Semitism, I just think, is grossly unfair.”
But Dave Prentis, head of Unison, urged the party to “look long and hard” at why they walked. He said: “The party must get its act together over Brexit and ensure the country is spared the calamity of a no-deal.”
The Mirror told last week how backbench Labour MPs feared “splitters” would be dubbed “dirty Blairites” for quitting.
Laura Parker, of the pro-Corbyn Momentum campaign, said last night: “These MPs want to take us back to the politics of the past.
“With a back-to-the-Blair-years programme of privatisation, tax cuts for the rich and deregulation of the banks, they offer no concrete solutions, no new ideas and have no support amongst the public.”