The new Independent Group of MPs claims it is going to fix Britain’s “broken politics” and “change politics for the better”. They would say that though, wouldn’t they? Every single time a new political initiative launches or an established party revamps its image, they promise the same thing.
When the British people voted for Brexit, it was widely interpreted as an expression of disenchantment with the current parties and the Westminster “elite”. A better than expected election result for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour was viewed through the same lens and, now, this curious collection of Blairite MPs and pro-EU Tories plans to pose as a radical departure from the old way of doing things.
It might be more accurate to say that this group is reacting to the way that politics has changed very profoundly since the Brexit poll and offering a return to the more settled, predictable landscape that prevailed previously. ‘Centrism’ has gone out of fashion, but it’s hardly a revolutionary idea.
