Labour at war

While the Conservatives continue to tear themselves apart over Brexit, the Labour Party is undergoing an even greater schism. After its takeover by Jeremy Corbyn and the hard-left, the moderates have despaired of ever wresting back control.

Last month, a number of MPS left the party to form The Independent Group (TIG) in Parliament in the expectation that like-minded colleagues would follow their lead. But so far they haven’t. The tribal loyalties that bind MPS to their parties are hard to break. Even Tony Blair recently said he would not leave, despite the fact that the membership is now implacably hostile to everything he stood for as leader.

Moreover, those who are tempted to join TIG still think they have a chance of changing things inside the party. Tom Watson, the deputy leader (elected with his own mandate), will today gather his forces at Westminster under the banner of the Future Britain Group, a social-democratic alternative to the neo-marxism currently on offer that has seen Labour languishing in the polls despite the difficulties the Government has faced.

This has been depicted as a party within a party, although Labour moderates argue that it represents mainstream Labour opinion better than the far-left activists of Momentum, the leader’s ideological Praetorian Guard.

The big test will be how many MPS rally to Mr Watson’s standard, since he has made few bones about it being a deliberate challenge to the official leadership. A few years ago, more than 170 Labour MPS, most of whom are still in Parliament, voted to get rid of Mr Corbyn, but he appealed to the membership and stayed. For some that was a clear sign that the party was irredeemably lost to the hard-left. Mr Watson evidently thinks otherwise.

A civil war looms.