THE Labour breakaway had been coming over the hill for some time.
The caravan of discontent with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership since the leftward surge that followed his 2015 leadership victory has been growing and growing.
Even though Labour MPs expressed their unhappiness in June 2016 with a no-confidence vote in Mr Corbyn’s leadership by 172 votes to 40 - a not insubstantial 82 per cent - the Islington MP went on just three months later to win another landslide leadership vote; even bigger than the first time.
After more than a year of damaging anti-Semitic headlines coupled with the largely anti-EU leadership being at odds with the largely pro-EU membership, the word despair for those critics of the chief comrade does not cover it.
When it was pointed out how being in Opposition was soul-destroying for Labour MPs, one counter-Corbynista declared: “Just imagine what it’s like to be an opposition to the Opposition.”
Some of the rhetoric used by the Group of Seven against the Labour leader was excoriating. What, perhaps, was more eye-opening was the reaction of Tom Watson, who happens to be Labour’s deputy leader. He confessed: “I love this party but sometimes I no longer recognise it.”
What is key now is what happens next.
Senior party sources suggested there would be another wave of resignations next week. Names like Owen Smith, Liz Kendall, and Ian Murray were conspicuous by their absence from the Group of Seven.
One Labour MP was clear the plan is to create a new centre left party, which could – depending on where Brexit takes us – lead to a merger with or takeover of the Liberal Democrats.
Intriguingly, one senior insider noted how if a new party could attract 36 MPs – the SDP could manage only 28 – then it would supersede the SNP as the UK’s third parliamentary party and grab Ian Blackford’s prized slot at PMQs.
But as some Labour MPs contemplate whether they too should up sticks, it has to be remembered leaving a party you grew up with, campaigned for on cold, wet wintry nights and struggled hard to represent at Westminster is not an easy thing to do.
For some, the Group of Seven will be traitors to the cause, for others they will be heroes, who have spoken up for true Labour values.
Only time will tell whether this will be a shifting of the tectonic plates of British politics or a pointless gesture.
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