Labour and Conservatives could see more MP exits

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::

Labour and the Conservatives could face more resignations, with members of the new Independent Group saying they expect more MPs to join them.

Ex-Tory MP Heidi Allen told ITV's Peston programme "a third" of Tory MPs were fed up with the party's direction.

Labour MP Ian Austin told the Express and Star he would think "long and hard" about his future in the party.

It comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said defecting MPs should "resign and put themselves up for election".

Meanwhile, former attorney general Dominic Grieve said he would quit the Conservatives if there was a no-deal Brexit.

The Tory MP told the BBC's Newsnight he admired the courage of the 11 members of the Independent Group - eight ex-Labour MPs and three former Tory MPs - and agreed totally with their support for another EU referendum.

He said he would not be able to stay in the Conservative Party if it "went completely off the rails" and backed leaving the EU without a negotiated agreement.

Conservative defectors insist 'no way back'

Anna Soubry, one of three Tory MPs to quit the party on Wednesday, has insisted there is no "going back" since Tories like her had lost the fight for the heart and soul of the party and been overwhelmed by a "purple Momentum".

She also revealed that former PM David Cameron had made a last-ditch attempt to stop the trio from quitting.

She told The Times Red Box podcast that Mr Cameron sent them a text saying: "Is it too late to persuade you to stay?"

• What does it feel like to quit a party?
• Three Tory MPs join breakaway group
• Who are the MPs resigning?

Ms Allen said she could not imagine returning "because if we do our jobs right there won't be a Tory party to go back to".

She said she was "hopeful" that what she described as "good, sensible centre ground colleagues" would join the new group.

Senior Conservatives have suggested the door is open for the three Tories who quit - Ms Soubry, Ms Allen and Sarah Wollaston - to return one day.

Prime Minister Theresa May has rejected claims the party has abandoned the centre ground in its pursuit of a hard Brexit, pledging to continue to offer the "decent, moderate and patriotic politics that I believe the people of the UK deserve".

Corbyn wants defectors to quit

In a Twitter video released on Wednesday night, Mr Corbyn said defecting Labour MPs should resign because it was the "democratic thing to do" because they wanted to "abandon the policies on which they were elected".

While the Labour leader said he was disappointed, he suggested the eight were replaceable and the Labour movement was "greater than the sum of its parts".

"It is disappointing that some MPs have left our party to sit with disaffected Tory MPs, but we can't return to the failed business of usual politics of the past," he said.

Other Labour MPs have said they will consider their futures unless Mr Corbyn listens to their concerns about the culture of the party and acts on them.

Meanwhile, Momentum, the Labour movement backing Mr Corbyn, is to hold "mass canvassing events" in the constituencies of some of those ex-Labour MPs to build support in the event of a by-election.

It says it will have events in Streatham, Stockport, and Penistone and Stocksbridge - the constituencies of Chuka Umunna, Ann Coffey and Angela Smith respectively - in the next few weeks.

Labour apology over anti-Semitism

The Labour leader said he would not change direction in response to the defections but repeated that tackling anti-Semitism was a priority for him.He has been accused by departing MPs, including Joan Ryan and Luciana Berger, of allowing a culture of "anti-Jewish racism" to flourish and for Jews to be "abused with impunity" by his supporters.

One of Mr Corbyn's senior team, Barry Gardiner, apologised to the Jewish community in the House of Commons on Wednesday, saying it had "let them down" and Labour was "struggling" to "become the party we have always aspired to be".

Mr Corbyn said he recognised the party had work to do to restore trust among the Jewish community and to persuade people the party was its "ally" in the fight against anti-Semitism.

The party said it had suspended the membership application of left-wing firebrand Derek Hatton over Twitter comments he made about Israel in 2012.

Lord Mandelson told ITV's Robert Peston he felt "morally compromised" staying in "a party that can spew out so much hatred towards other members", but he also urged Labour MPs not to leave the party.