LABOUR TURMOIL
7 MPs quit party
JEREMY Corbyn was warned to brace for further resignations after seven Labour MPs sickened by his hard-Left leadership quit the party to form a new political force.
The group of party moderates, including former frontbenchers Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger and Chris Leslie, walked away claiming Britain’s main opposition party had been irretrievably taken over by hardline socialist fanatics.
Announcing their intention to sit in the Commons as “The Independent Group”, they urged MPs from across the political spectrum to join them in forming a new centreground movement.
In an echo of the 1980s Labour split that bred the breakaway Social Democratic Party, Mr Umunna said: “It’s time we dumped this country’s old-fashioned politics.
“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.”
Mrs Berger, a target for vile antiSemitic abuse by Corbyn-backing activists, said she had become “ashamed and embarrassed” to be a Labour Party member. “I cannot remain in a party that I have come to the conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic,” she said. All seven MPs – who also included backbenchers Ann Coffey, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith – resigned in emails to the party yesterday before the launch of their group in a news conference at central London’s County Hall.
The group of pro-Brussels MPs cited Mr Corbyn’s reluctance to resist Brexit and support a second EU referendum as a key reason for their departure.
Speculation was growing last night that pro-Brussels Tory MPs including former ministers Nick Boles, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston could be tempted to cross the floor to join the new group.
Mr Corbyn shrugged off the departure of the seven moderates.
“I am disappointed these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labour policies that inspired millions at the last election,” the Labour leader said.
However, his deputy Tom Watson acknowledged other Labour MPs were poised to quit to join the new grouping. In an apparent jibe at Mr Corbyn and his allies, he said Mrs Berger had been the “first casualty” of a “virulent form of identity politics which has seized the Labour Party”. Mr Watson said: “They say anti-Semitism is a light sleeper. This is certainly a wake-up call for the Labour Party. We were slow to acknowledge we had a problem and even slower to deal with it.”
He added: “If someone like Luciana no longer believes there is a home for her in the Labour Party then many other colleagues will be asking themselves how they can stay. I fear that unless we change, we may see more days like this.”
The new Independent Group set its sights on breaking the stranglehold of the traditional mainstream parties on Westminster politics. A “Statement of Independence” from the group said: “We believe that none of today’s political parties are fit to provide the leadership and direction needed by our country.
“Our aim is to pursue policies that are evidence-based, not led by ideology, taking a long-term perspective to the challenges of the 21st century in the national interest rather than locked in the old politics of the 20th century.”
It also pledged the group would “aim to recognise the value of healthy debate, show tolerance towards different opinions and seek to reach across outdated divides and build consensus to tackle Britain’s problems.” At County Hall, Mr Umunna appealed to voters to back the new force. He said: “If you want an alternative, please help us build it. The bottom line is this, politics is broken, it doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s change it.”
Mr Leslie, a former shadow chancellor, said Labour had been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard Left”. Opening the news conference, Mrs Berger said the decision to quit the party was “very difficult, painful, but necessary”, adding: “The core values of equality for all, opportunity for all, anti-racism against all and social justice, the values I hold really dear and which led me to join the Labour Party as a student 20 years ago, remain who I am,” she said.
“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.”
Ilford South MP 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”. Stockport MP Ms Coffey said: “Any criticism of the leadership is
responded to with abuse and accusations of treachery. Anti-Semitism is rife and tolerated.”
The group launched a website inviting supporters and donors. The MPs are to decide the party’s structure and select a leader.
Mr Corbyn’s ally, shadow chancellor John McDonnell, called on them to do “the honourable thing” and stand down to fight byelections in their constituencies.
Tory chairman Brandon Lewis said: “The resignations confirm the Labour Party’s changed irreversibly under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn... We must never let him do to our country what he is doing to the Labour Party.”
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said his party was open to working with “like-minded groups” on getting a second Brexit referendum.
Last night angry scenes erupted at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party as MPs accused the leadership of failing to take allegations of anti-Semitism seriously.
Ruth Smeeth, who is Jewish, told the meeting a party member had once accused her and another MP of “not having human blood”. Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery claimed the leadership was tackling the issue, but Siobhain McDongah MP said: “He talks rubbish.”