"oh you don't get me I'm the end of the union": lol brexit is how we're all gonna die

Any 10-year strategy written in the weeks before Brexit is fantasy bollocks, i can't believe these types would indulge in such

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_Tyne_and_Wear

lol

however will labour win a GE without bobson dugnutt

once you're committed to the fantasy of storming the ballot boxes with your irresistable centrist mandate, nothing is beyond the powers of your imagination i guess

never forget Chris Leslie's deep thinking on updating Mondeo Man/Worcester Woman - the Which magazine reading strata of UK society. Such a great mind allied to a finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist is a rarity in politics, RIP.

that’s that then

fs

Chris Leslie, MP for Nottingham East, is speaking now. He says it has not been an easy decision and that they have all been MPs for very many years. The Labour party they joined, campaigned for and believed in has been hijacked by the “machine politics of the hard left”, he says.

'oh noes my centre-right party has been inflitrated by people with actual political convictions'

He says it would be irresponsible to allow Jeremy Corbyn to be prime minister, which is something other Labour MPs will say privately. He accuses the leadership of having a “narrow and outdated ideology”. “To them the world divides between oppressor and oppressed, class enemies, when in truth the modern world is more complicated than this.”

i mean is it tho

They all have great careers ahead of them, not as MPs of course, but there's a comfortable life to be had as a token Labour apostate in the media, not to mention advisory roles in Tory governments, and the usual company directorships and consultancy work for privatizers, hedge funds etc.

Chris Leslie couldn't resist doing a "socialism = bad" bit could he?
If these people can't stick to their script on day one then not sure how they imagine this is going to pan out well.

It’s a real shame Labour will no longer represent the interests of the private water industry lobbyists and anti choicers.

I’m really glad to see Chris “hard left” Leslie remains as quotable as ever.

I’m afraaaaaaaid that is the nature of

the machine left

Feel sorry for anyone who has voted Labour in their constituency and ended up represented by one of these people

Now Angela Smith, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, says that she is from a Labour supporting working class family who were ambitious for her. “Most people are like my family. They do not want to be patronised by left wing intellectuals who think that being poor and working class is a state of grace.”

careful with that straw man, it looks v flammable

Lol Gavin Shuker says they don’t believe that

every problem in the world has been created by the west

xp some sort of quenching fluid will put that right out

finally, a business-friendly party for hardworking families who want to better themselves

The SDP would've thrown this lot out for being obvious tories

david steel in the hour of chaos

The Labour party they joined, campaigned for and believed in has been hijacked by the “machine politics of the hard left

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AngryFeminineAmphibian-max-1mb.gif

Seven MPs is too low.

Berger is the only one who the party should be sorry to lose, imo.

Nope.

I wanted Neil Coyle to quit as well. Quite a few others but I can't remember their names rn.

and now, the sound of one lip flapping

Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham, says that the current parties are part of the problem, not the solution. “It is time we dumped this country’s old fashioned politics,” he says. The UK needs a political party “fit for the hear and now” and the “first step in leaving the tribal politics behind”.

“You don’t join a political party to fight the people within it,” he says. The new group will have its first formal meeting in the coming days. Umunna says that the bottom line is: “Politics is broken. It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s change it.”

- leave tribal politics behind
- join our tribe
- ????
- profit

they say they're not a political party but a company established to support independent MPs, don't have to abide by rules on funding parties but will do so, but also that they only "may" name those making a donation of £7500 or more https://t.co/mnU9unC7q2

— Dan Howdon (@danielhowdon) February 18, 2019

sure, sounds like just the sort of breath of fresh air this corrupted political system needs alright

Well, that’s not dodgy at all, is it? The PFI Group.

their website appears to have keeled over, presumably from the weight of rubberneckers desperate to clown them online politically homeless people desperate to set the controls for the heart of the centrism

"Look,..."

forgive my ignorance but what is stopping these ppl joining the lib dems

Nope.

Also, she’s related to Manny Shinwell, who famously crossed the floor to smack a Tory in the face after said Tory heckled him to “go back to Poland”.

xp plausible deniability

They've actually called themselves "The Independent Group" ffs

That’s like a name you come up with and (usually) discard after a few minutes’ thinking.

But really, the thing about the west is awfully dog whistley no?

some political consultant pocketed six figures for coming up with that name, nice work if you can get it

Gapes: I did stay and I did fight. I've been fighting battles on Twitter and elsewhere... there comes a point where you have to recognise that this is not the Labour Party you were in, it's changed. And at all levels #LabourSplit

— Simple Politics (@easypoliticsUK) February 18, 2019

I don’t think people sending him pictures of milk counts as “fighting battles”.

xp

https://i.redd.it/zqbeg8w3bgzz.jpg

Zapp Brannigan OTM

But really, the thing about the west is awfully dog whistley no?

i read it as taking the (again strawmanny) stance that actually not everything bad that's happened in the world is the result of capitalism therefore every criticism from the left can be discounted entirely, more than a straight-up racist dogwhistle, but hey i suspect these guys wouldn't be averse to taking votes from those who are that way inclinced

IT'S A BEIGE ALERT

Chris Leslie says, to people who say “nothing ever changes”, “if you don’t try, you’ll never know”. Umunna adds: “You can’t change the status quo if you rejoin it... We are saying there needs to be a new offer and a new alternative.”

what does it feel like to be so utterly lacking in self-awareness, i wonder

“Left wing intellectuals” is it?

Fucking fruit juice drinkers

I like Luciana Berger and the anti-Semitism aspect of this makes me squirm tbh. The rest of them can gtf tho.

RIP Rick Parfitt

They have yet to name a substantial policy they support, and they haven’t ruled out voting with the Tories. This is a masterclass in the vacuous non-politics of the bureaucratic centre. https://t.co/QG17KdsrBc

— Eleanor Penny (@eleanorkpenny) February 18, 2019

forgive my ignorance but what is stopping these ppl joining the lib dems

Lib Dems also want to know!

The #LabourSplit is the clearest sign yet that Labour and also the Tories are broken. Lib Dems stand ready to work to address the issues both parties choose to ignore, starting with stopping the #BrexitChaos
Britain deserves better from this opposition and from this Government

— Tom Brake MP (@thomasbrake) February 18, 2019

Statement and 'statement of values':

Here is The Independent's Group's breakaway statement: pic.twitter.com/BjBXti962r

— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) February 18, 2019

so

is this bad or good

Also obviously there's more 'Independent' MPs than Lib Dems

(also also they're not a party cool cool can Jared O'Mara get some consultancy, so?)

xp it is stupid, but it shows promising signs of being hilarious.