The Independent Group

Current Affairs
#1

Think these guys deserve a thread now.

You’re welcome Chuka, it was your 1st target to become relevant enough to have a thread on OA’s current affairs section, I know :arteta:

For those who don’t know, disillusioned centrist Labour and Tory MPs who have grown tired of their parties’ extremism on Brexit, racism etc. have decided to create a new party that’s not a party (yet).

For now, they seem to have left their parties’ whips and will sit with the opposition.

Anything i’ve missed guys?

Looks like Grieve and Greening may join now. If enough Tories leave, the DUP become irrelevant again, which is a good thing.

Wonder if they follow through though.

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#2

They’ve hijacked thier constituencies to undermine Brexit. Not sure how I feel about that

I am very intrigued

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#3

Well we sort of know what they left for but dont have a clue what they stand for. Its all a bit dishonest and unlikely to have any real significance or future imo for them.

#4

Good point.

#5

I’m sort of in favour of it all as I’m a Remainer, all 11 of them are Remainers, it’s breathed new life into 2ndRef (yes I know it still won’t happen).

However, I feel by-elections should be called in all their constituencies. It’s not fair for the Lab or Tory MP i voted in to suddenly tack in a different direction and still claim to represent me. They should be deselected and made to fight for their seat, which I’m sure many of them would still retain anyway.

The creation of a new group is a big win for the Tories anyway, which while a shame for the immediate future of the country, should hopefully hasten the end of Mr Corbyn, a man I can’t wait to see the back of :sunglasses:

#6

I don’t think any major party’s mp can leave their party and still claim to have a mandate from their constituents. Many, rightly or wrongly, vote on party lines rather than for individuals in parliamentary elections and the first thing these people need to do is stand again as independents to demonstrate that they actually do have a mandate for what they’re doing.

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#7

I don’t see how this new party has any legitimacy until the members are voted in by their constituents.

And I’m willing to bet that most of them wont get re-elected either.

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#8

Doing an italian thing here.

#9

I think Chuka Umunna is the only one who’s a shoe in to get re-elected. The rest won’t in my opinion which makes the party totally redundant

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#10

It’s amazing that a group of politicians would shoot themselves in the foot like this.

#11

Hes got a better chance than most of them probably, but shoo in seems like very strong way of putting it to me.

If I had to put money on it either way I definitely wouldn’t back him to win a by-election. He clearly wouldnt even back himself to win a by-election haha

#12

They might swing the odd marginal by stealing votes from their original parties but none of these people would get above 15% in an election as an independent.

Umunna got 12k more votes in the last election as a Labour candidate and I very much doubt it was because of his obvious dislike for Labour.

#13

Just looking around on Twitter and noticed that Yvette Cooper and Margaret Hodge no longer display the words Labour anywhere in their profiles.

Fingers crossed!

#14

Labour might take a generation to recover from this. Cheers Jezza :clap:

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#15

It’s hilarious how badly they’re fucking this right from the start.

#16

Change UK: Fighting passionately for nothing to change.

They’re trolling politics.

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#17

They’re all going to lose their seats at the next local elections anyway.

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#18

If you had a competition for worst logo ever, then Change UK would win. Utter losers.

#19

Lol, this bunch have been a shambles from their very inception.

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#20

It’s not even that bad. You just can’t be saying that if you’re a politician :slight_smile:

Any aspiring politician would be well advised to delete all their social media accounts, and restart.