Today is the anniversary of the launch of The Independent Group, later Change UK, then Change UK – The Independent Group, then The Independent Group for Change, before splitting off into a group called The Independents and independent MPs. Brexiteers have a lot to thank them for…
- Firstly, their hard-line position within Parliament helped scupper the indicative votes attempt to bounce the UK into a rule taking position. The customs union option came just three votes away from achieving a majority, meaning TIG’s decision to oppose it prevented Parliament backing a subservient post-Brexit Britain trapped within the customs union. Remain strategy became ‘all or nothing’, and they got nothing…
- Secondly, without pressure generated by the TIGgers, it is unlikely that Labour would have felt compelled to switch to a pro-second referendum decision. Labour U-turned off the back of the threat of more defections and dire EU election results. In doing so they shifted away from their traditonal voters and helped crumble the Red Wall and perhaps even consign Corbynism to the history books. Time will tell…
- Thirdly, it was thanks to the five TIG defectors who became Lib Dems that an election was called at all. Without the defector induced momentum Jo Swinson’s party gained, they would not have fallen
forin behind Number 10’s strategy of forcing an election to break the deadlock. And the rest was history…
Thank you, TIGgers!
Poor Anna Soubry. She’s lost influence, friends, and will probably lose her seat.
She has poured her heart out to ITV’s Paul Brand “we made some terrible mistakes over leadership and I can tell you now that the problem was was that Chuka wouldn’t step up to it. And if Chuka had stepped up to it he would have been our leader, it was certainly …well I always assumed it was absolutely going to happen.
Paul Brand: Why do you think he didn’t?
Anna Soubry: You’d have to ask him that but he does have history of not stepping up. Very sad because he… to me he was absolutely the future for our country. I genuinely believe that, I wouldn’t have left my party if I hadn’t believed that.PB: Were you trying to persuade him to stand as leader?
AS: Good God, yes. Goodness me yes. He should have been our leader and he wasn’t and then after the EU elections which were a terrific blow of course they were you don’t give up at the first hurdle, for God’s sakes.PB: How did you feel when he joined the Lib Dems?
AS: I think he made a terrible mistake. I was genuinely really sad about that. For me it personally hurt, it really did hurt. I thought he was my big buddy. He was a major part of why I left the Tory party. To start something new with him as the leader, I don’t want to be the bloody leader I genuinely believe that Chuka Umunna should be prime minister of our country and had the – just what we were needing to be a great prime minister. I genuinely believe that.PB: Have you spoken to him since he joined the Lib Dems?
AS: Unfortunately, he has never called. He has never called me. Which I think is very sad.PB: The friendship’s sort of broken down then?
AS: Very sad. Very sad. We have exchanged emails but you now, you sort of, well I won’t go into it all but …
Watch her heartbreaking ITV interview in full and hold back your tears…
Rachel Johnson had a hard time defending the abysmal launch of Change UK- The Independent Group – Remain Alliance to Sky’s Adam Boulton this morning. When challenged on the confusing name of the fledgling party she responded by saying“I definitely picked a hole in that as well”. Great…
On the name Change UK:
“It’s good for Chuka, if you think about it because the short form is ChUK.”
On the poor polling performance:
“It’s like when you have a baby… you have a sort of birth plan and then it all changes in the delivery room, and so I think people understand that it’s a pop up party.”
On the fact that it is “actually the no-change party”:
“No, I think that’s quite cheap of you… I agree if you were being really mean you could say our only policy is the status quo ante”
Johnson then claimed that the ChUKas will be doing “non-tribal, evidence based politics” which comes as news to Guido after their fib filled three months…
Change UK – The Independent Group – Remain Alliance have published a slick launch video that contains a shocker of a fib. Guido has helpfully contextualised it…
Just two days into the fledgling Change UK – The Independent Group – Remain Alliance Euro-election campaign and it is facing big teething problems. Beyond the confusing three names, bland managerial logo, and dismal poll numbers, two candidates have already been expelled from the list. Since then more comments have been emerging that have made it hard to tell the ChUKas apart from the pre-Batten Kippers…
Now Guido can bring you the quiz we’ve all been waiting for… ‘Who Said It? ChUK 2019 or UKIP 2014?’ Can you guess which are comments from 2019 ChUK MEP candidates and which are from the heady days of UKIP councillors and candidates back in 2014..?
The group formally known as The Independent Group, which now wants to be called Change UK (and also The Independent Group in parliament) yet having refused to enter into an alliance with other remain parties now uses the #RemainAlliance hashtag, finally has a new logo. It’s four horizontal lines and some words…
The name ‘Change UK’ upset charity Change.org who have the twitter handle @UKChange and are heavily involved in the political sphere. Now Guido thinks that the new CUK-TIG-RA logo bears a striking resemblance to another charity, Living Streets. Did CUK-TIG-RA ask permission before ripping off their logo..?
After CUK-TIG-RA’s original design was cruelly rejected by the Electoral Commission, Guido held a helpful competition to find a new one. Guido didn’t like the result so in true Tigger CUK-TIG-RA style held a second referendum where the winner of the first was not allowed to be an option. Today the winner can be announced:
Congratulations to Jake Johnstone for his winning design. A mouse mat is on its way…
