Pro-EU Labour and Tory MPs look at forming a new centrist party [View all]

[Denzil_DC]

Tory and Labour MPs have held informal discussions about establishing a new political party in the event of Andrea Leadsom becoming prime minister and Jeremy Corbyn staying as Labour leader, a cabinet minister has disclosed.

Senior players in the parties have discussed founding a new centrist grouping in the mould of the Social Democratic party (SDP) should the two main parties polarise, according to the minister. Talks should be taken seriously, though they are still at an early stage, according to the source.

“There have been talks between Labour and Tory MPs about a new party,” the minister said. “A number of my colleagues would not feel comfortable in a party led by Andrea Leadsom.”

It is understood that MPs in both parties who campaigned to remain in the European Union believe there is an opportunity to build on the newly founded relationships between centrist MPs in both parties made before the EU referendum.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/labour-tory-mps-talk

So the tittle-tattle is that there's a new "tribe" finding common ground in Parliament's tea rooms.

Torn here: On the one hand, this probably needs to happen if Labour's ever to overcome its schizophrenia, though the timing's far from ideal. On the other, to a large extent we've been here before.

Splitting along Remain/Leave lines may be convenient "tribally" at the moment, but unless it's a single-issue pressure group, that centrism they're proclaiming is what's lost both the Tories and Labour votes over the years, for various reasons, and it's hard to see how the compromises they'd each have to make would lessen voters' impatience and confusion.

I may not be alone in giving the SDP, and particularly David Owen, credit for helping in great measure to ensure Thatcher's 11-year reign.