MPs split off from the Labour Party. Voters say ‘Good riddance!’
Chuka Umunna: Good riddance.
A group of seven MPs has split off from the Labour Party – to gasps of relief across the United Kingdom.
The reaction is probably not what they wanted.
The group includes Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith as expected.
Joining them are Luciana Berger – quitting before her Liverpool Wavertree CLP pushes through the “no confidence” vote that members have been readying? – along with Mike Gapes and Ann Coffey.
The group has released a statement but it seems its website is having teething problems – odd since it has been registered since 2015 – and I can’t really be bothered unless Vox Political readers are genuinely interested. Are you?
It’s much more fun to highlight the public response, which is primarily relief. The flood of comments yesterday (Sunday, February 18) when rumours spread that the split would happen today, speaks for itself. Some thought this was another publicity stunt and they would not go through with it:
https://twitter.com/UKDemockery/status/1097258776015577093
Others pointed out the qualities of the expected splitters and the likely tensions between them:
Can't see it lasting long, think about the problem they all have: Not one potential member will be able to trust any of the other potential members because they already know how each one of them won't think twice about stepping on them in favour of their own egos/careers.😉
— TracieWaylingArtASMR (@traciewayling) February 17, 2019
The prevailing mood – especially in the case of Mr Umunna, was clear:
Everyone on the left waiting for Umunna to finally leave pic.twitter.com/Es4KG0dUnj
— Stats for Lefties 🇵🇸🏳️⚧️ (@LeftieStats) February 17, 2019
Hey @ChukaUmunna ….you better leave tomorrow…. because you can’t just keep teasing people about LEAVING & …then not 😔… you know…..
It’s cruel…..
Because…. now I’m like👇🏽….. pic.twitter.com/E0JGHDzH6v
— 💙Catherine A Higgins (Kamara-Taylor) (@JustMeBeingMe4) February 17, 2019
And some posted wish lists of other Labour members they would like to see split off – for a very obvious reason:
Please let Mike Gapes,Chris Leslie,Angela Smith,Margaret Hodge,Ian Austin,John Mann,Graham Stringer,Luciana Berger,Kate Hoey,Owen Smith,Rachel Reeves,Jess Phillips and Neil Coyle go2.
Then we can get candidates against them in the mould of Faiza Shaheen/Laura Pidcock+Dan Carden.
— rob j (@robjeffecology) February 17, 2019
Mr Jeffery will be pleased to see Ms Berger and Mr Gapes among the splitters. Mr Gapes is also on Matt Zarb-Cousins’s list:
I’m not the only one totally fed up with these Labour MPs grandstanding for years about leaving, while members put in the hours campaigning to get them elected. If you’re a Labour MP but you don’t want a Labour government or to enact our agenda, leave & do so quickly ffs. Thanks
— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) February 17, 2019
Speculation on what the “Independent Group” would represent has been overwhelmingly negative towards them:
What will this new "Centrist" party stand for?
More Austerity?
Rampant marketisation & uncontrolled capitalism?
Neoconservative Thatcherism?
I suspect all of the above under a pro EU banner. The policies are being rejected & thank Christ they are.
We need a socialist LAB govt!— Bevan Boy 💚 (@mac123_m) February 17, 2019
A new centrist party wouldn't spell the emergence of a new politics, it's the old one sailing off in a lifeboat.
It would gently amble towards an empty horizon with no idea where it is going or what forces are pushing it.
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) February 17, 2019
And the departure will provoke comparisons with the “Gang of Four” who formed the SDP in 1981. That decision led to the formation of the Liberal Democrats, a party that apparently killed itself off as a national political organisation by forming a coalition with the Conservatives between 2010 and 2015. Here’s Martin O’Neill:
But for both groups, it is hard to disagree with Tony Benn’s withering critique of Roy Jenkins here. They owe a huge amount to the Labour Party, without which they’d have no prominence or public standing at all. And Labour will be better off without them.https://t.co/rBlwvol5wC
— Martin O'Neill (@martin_oneill) February 17, 2019
As ever, Tony Benn called it correctly – 38 years ago.
Last word goes to Liam Young:
https://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/1097252105499348994
Damn straight – good riddance.
Haha good riddance! Don’t forget to close the door on your way out.
This isn’t good though, Mike. When Labour split last time in 1981 we were out of power for 16 years until until 1997. It’s a real shame because, for a while, I thought that Labour might be able to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party, with Jeremy Corbyn as notional Prime Minister after the next general election. That won’t happen now. It’s a heartbreaking, crying shame. It really really is.
Bit of a misleading headline? “Voters say ‘Good riddance!’”……well, I must say I was expecting more examples from “voters,” rather than politically-engaged people!
They’re voters too.
There’s only one problem here, and that’s that more bitter Blairites didn’t have the bottle to leave too.
I wonder how many of the seven will have the courage to go back to the people and face a by-election? Any? I’m not holding my breath…
Please people, see this for what it is – an ideal opportunity to rid ourselves of the dreaded “Tories in Disguise” and revert back to the party for the people – All the people, not just the money Grubbers!
Just a pity that they didn’t take that odious gobshite Jess Phillips with them.
Absolutely Mike, just heard the news on L.B.C , Chris Leslie came out with the biggest load of garbage I have ever heard from an mp in trying to justify his resigning from Labour , the party is far better off without these self serving socially inadequate freaks.
So they’re independent enough to leave the Labour Party but not independent enough to leave the Labour seat? Those are Labour majorities they carry not their own.
Yep good bloody riddance….. I just hope they go down & dissapear into the ether . .
I suppose the MSM will be rubbing their hands in glee . .
Well, Katie Hopkins has endorsed them; they’re sure to win the next election by a landslide!
I shan’t tell you what my mother said and she was such a fan of Blair that she actually gave the Conservatives her vote, in protest!
Aye, good riddance! About time! Why did they wait so long?
the main problem here is that the public will see this as a a weakness within labour and vote commiserative at the next election guaranteed
it’s the same when immigration gets mentioned every one wakes up and votes against it as the former prime minister found out when he put quitting the EU to the vote and lost
It’s all just a little but of history repeating… The S.D.P. sounded the death knell of the £iberal Party.
No place for “Nay-Sayers.” Jeremy is better off without those who won’t stand behind him. Oh happy days!