Jeremy Corbyn has finally made a move of sorts on Brexit, in the form of a letter to various MPs which is less about stopping no deal and more about making himself Prime Minister. Corbyn says he will “seek the confidence of the House for a strictly time-limited temporary government with the aim of calling a general election, and securing the necessary extension of Article 50 to do so.” In the same way the dictatorship of the proletariat is only meant to be temporary…?
Funnily enough opposition MPs haven’t been buying it, most importantly including Jo Swinson, who now leads 14 MPs after serial defector Sarah Wollaston finally joined the Lib Dems last night. Swinson says Corbyn is “not the person who is going to be able to build an even temporary majority in the House of Commons for this task”. This is a serious electoral headache for the Lib Dems, back Corbyn and they’ll be seriously tainted by his toxic brand, fail to back him and they’ll be accused of allowing no deal to happen. Choices, choices…
The reaction from other non-Labour opposition MPs was even less positive:
1/4 I am disappointed Jeremy Corbyn did not include me in his letter especially as there are five MP members of our party.
Our exclusion and the preference for a General Election rather than an immediate People’s Vote leads me to conclude this is nothing more than a stunt.— Anna Soubry MP (@Anna_Soubry) August 14, 2019
Ultimately Corbyn’s letter changes nothing, we are still fundamentally stuck in the position where Corbyn will not back anyone else for ‘temporary’ Prime Minister while there isn’t even close to a Parliamentary majority of MPs who would back him. Pundits and commentators have got a whole two weeks left of August silly season to fight out amongst themselves who the best alternative would be, the bottom line is that it’s simply not going to happen…
Just in case things weren’t confusing enough after the Change UK/Independent Group split, a new grouping called The Independents has now launched, including some – but not all – of the rump of the Independent Group. Rather than being a party they say they are structured as a “co-operative” instead. Hopefully they manage to work together more cooperatively than Change UK did…
At launch they have five MPs – Independent Groupers Heidi Allen, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker and Angela Smith plus former Labour MP John Woodcock, although there’s no sign of Sarah Wollaston. Looks like they won’t be following Chuka to the Lib Dems just yet…
They are making a big feature of their values, rather than political positions, and their independent complaints procedure which Woodcock has already referred himself to in order to resolve the outstanding Labour complaint which Labour deliberately left hanging over him. Can they succeed where TIG/CUK/RA/FC_N failed…?
UPDATE: Even more confusingly, they’re separate from another pet project launched today by Heidi Allen called “Unite to Remain” which will try to get the unruly mass of pro-Remain parties to work together. Or alternatively, try to maintain any sort of media relevance for Heidi herself…
On Tuesday after the ChUK / TIG split, the Change UK bit of the split – the bit without Chuka – sent an email saying they were “in this long for the haul”. It came from info@theindependent.group, which confusingly is the name of the other bit of the split. Co-conspirators will have read previously that ‘The Independent Group Limited’ is legally controlled by Gavin Shuker, who has left ChUK. Confused? You are not alone.
The Independent Group Limited owns the data, Gavin Shuker legally owns the company. Those who have stayed in ChUK, like Chris Leslie’s wife, Nicola Murphy and Anna Soubry’s other half, Neil Davidson, are the directors of the company. Since the split worried staffers aren’t sure who they work for, legally or actually. The centrists are in complete confusion… we have asked Shuker’s office for clarification, they are getting back to us when they figure it out…
The splitting of the ChUKs and the TIGs is not without pain whatever they spin to their media friends. A row is developing about “who owns the data?”
Legally The Independent Group (TIG) Limited controls the data. Gavin Shuker resigned as a director on 21 May, 2019. The company is registered as the data controller with the ICO. So far so clear…
Chris Leslie’s wife, Nicola Murphy, was appointed a director in his place, along with Anna Soubry’s other half, Neil Davidson. So the Leslie – Soubry axis of ChUK would appear to be in control of the political data of hundreds of thousands of people and, more importantly, the ability to tap them up for financing. Not quite.
Shuker quite properly argues the data was collected in the first instance on behalf of The Independent Group. Which is now back in business with the defecting MPs. Too bad say the ChUKs, we’re in control now…
Except the controlling shareholder is still one Gavin Shuker, with the legal power to hire and fire the directors. So the TIGs actually control the ChUK’s company legally and the ICO will probably side with Shuker if it goes to court. The ICO are unlikely to look kindly on two organisations sharing the same data…
The Independent Group reveals on their website that they are funded by ‘Gemini A Ltd’, a secretive company founded by Gavin Shuker on On January 16. He is the sole director. This has been many weeks in the making…
Seven Labour MPs have announced their resignation from the Labour party and the formation a new group called “The Independent Group”. The seven are Luciana Berger, Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker and Anne Coffey. They have released a full ‘Statement of Independence’ explaining their decision…
