Katy Balls Katy Balls

Splitting headache

Eleven MPs from Labour and the Tories have joined the Independent Group — but will there be more to come?

The first thing to note about the ‘South Bank seven’ is that they are nothing like the four former Labour cabinet ministers who split the party in 1981, forming the SDP. The Gang of Four were national figures who between them had held every major office of state, bar the top job.

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