A New Age for Politics?
British politics has had its fair share of turmoil, however, early this morning it seems that the drama of Westminster continues. So far we are aware that there have been seven resignations: Chuka Umunna; Luciana Berger; Chris Leslie; Angela Smith; Mike Gapes; Gavin Shuker and Ann Coffey. This is definitely a shock to the Labour party and can be viewed as a new coming of age for politics.
Early reports state that they resigned because of reports of anti-Semitism and bullying. These reports are not new; so far there have 673 reports of anti-Semitism. Furthermore, they also cite Jeremy Corbyn’s poor leadership citing his complicit nature for Brexit and his approach to international issues such as Venezuela and Russia.
The accused ‘defectors’ will sit as a new independent group in Westminster; they believe that ‘politics is broken. It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s change it’. Their move implies that they wish to return Labour more towards the center and create a new brand far away from Corbyn. They are currently urging more MPs to join them, creating a possibility of an even more sizeable split.
These resignations have drawn widespread praise and criticism. Unsurprisingly, Corbyn stated his disappointment in this break away from the party with Ed Miliband, former Labour leader, reaffirming his support for the Labour party. However, according to Conservatives these resignations have confirmed that Labour "has become the Jeremy Corbyn Party - failing to take action on everything from tackling anti-Jewish racism to keeping our country safe".
Only time will tell how big of an effect these MPs will have on the Labour party and British politics as a whole but this is certainly a turning point in British politics. It is clear that the Labour party is losing the foundation of their support, with new stories coming about the bullying nature of their party it is time to consider if what the UK needs is a new political party far from the ‘left vs right’ political status quo. It is clear that from these resignations that the consensus is shifting towards a new centrist political party; a new party that will invest more in recognizing the failures of Westminster and focus on less on their political careers and more on representing the people of their constituency.
