And Now The Cons Turn

[-Talbot-]

3 leave party...no link yet.

[Kromovaracun]

//and why not join the Libbies......?//

Even as a Lib Dem voter, I can't help but laugh at a fact that a party formed two days ago now has just as many seats as they do :)

[youngmafbog]

“Brexit has redefined the Conservative Party "

I would go further I think it will redefine British Politics, or at least I hope do.

And to confirm, yes I am delighted the quislings have gone. They were never Tories, just liberal elite infiltrators. I hope more of them go.

[jim360]

How many of them have to go before your delight turns to fear? If all that are left are the hard right, who clearly represent only a minority, would that not risk losing altogether?

Branding these MPs as traitors and Quislings is self-defeating.

[andres]

Maybe if they kept away from twittering,facebooking and using their phones and ipads when sitting in parliament they might be able to concentrate on the jobs they were elected to do.

[Kromovaracun]

//They were never Tories, just liberal elite infiltrators.//

It must be so easy to see the world like this. I envy you sometimes.

[youngmafbog]

"How many of them have to go before your delight turns to fear? "

I dont have a party, I turned in my membership so I wont have any fear. Currntly there is no Party to represent me.

"If all that are left are the hard right, who clearly represent only a minority, would that not risk losing altogether? "

Well I strongly suspect your definition of hard right and mine and many of middle England differ greatly. The term "Hard right" and "Far right" are now bandied about for anyone disagreeing with the liberal elite Globalist vision.

I would suggest many of the ones you think are Hard right are anything but and will appeal to far more than the liberal elite do.

[youngmafbog]

"It must be so easy to see the world like this. I envy you sometimes"

I guess thats the usual liberal elite way of sneering and looking down your nose at me when you have no real argument?

However, with the likes of Sourbry it is not difficult - you should try it sometime.

[Gromit]

This dribble of defectors could well be a deluge by the time we crash out of the EU without a deal.
The majority of Parliament are remainers, and the IG would be the ideal place to hide when the inevitable backlash from the public comes.
If their number gets to 50-60, then they are Coalition candidates after the next election.

[Kromovaracun]

Am I part of the liberal elite too?

Blimey, I wish someone had told me. All that political influence and gold might have come in handy!

[jim360]

There's no doubt that the European Research Group is, if not "Far Right", then certainly far too far to the right for most people's comfort. If they effectively become the Tory Party then don't be too surprised to see more and more centrist Tory supporters leaving.

[andres]

Maybe, just maybe it's all part of a plan to thwart Brexit !

[ichkeria]

Tony Blair was right: politics ie morphing into “open” and “closed” rather than “right” and “left” especially with regard to trade.
And that’s why it’s critical for the Tories in particular because they’ve long been an awkward coalition of liberal free traders and «patriotic» protectionists. What the ERG seems to be as a party within a party are «patriotic” free traders actually but it amounts largely to the same thing even if the vision a lot of them have of a free trading independent nation seems largely idiotic and dangerous to those on the other side.

[youngmafbog]

"then don't be too surprised to see more and more centrist Tory supporters leaving. "

But replaced with true Tories like myself. I also doubt many centralist would actually be tory supporters. It's Middle England that wins elections and they want law, order, low taxes and to be able to better themselves.

It's not as clear cut as you are making out and the Tories are unlikely to become (my) Hard Right. Just back to Tories with low taxes not the highest taxes since the 70's.

[youngmafbog]

"free traders"

The EU is not free trade. I believe it works out at something like 13% levy on our imports.

[jim360]

Well, I guess we will see. At the very least, it's an interesting time in politics.

[ToraToraTora]

YMB: " It's Middle England that wins elections and they want law, order, low taxes and to be able to better themselves." - the very antithesis of socialism. Yet so few seem to be able to comprehend it.

[Hopkirk]

How many of these would be re-elected in a general election?

I suspect none.

[Gromit]

Hopkirk
That was my initial line on IG.
But with both the Tories and Labour being percieved as extremists, the public might vote for a middle ground party.
If IG get 50-60 MPs, then they are coalition candidates after a General Election. Disaffected Tories who cannot bring themselves to vot Labour would vote IG, and so would Labour supporters.
Unlike the Gang of Four (SDP) who were all Labour defectors, IG is cross-party, so would have a bigger pool of potential voters.

[Hopkirk]

Most of them would probably have been deselected by their constituencies if they had stayed.

[Hopkirk]

Voting for IG is about as appealing as voting Lib Dem.

They went into the last election on an anti Brexit ticket. It did them no favours.