Labour’s defectors have usually struggled at subsequent elections

THE MOST entertaining aspect of the launch party for the Independent Group, a faction of seven disgruntled Labour MPs who split from the party on February 18th, was a second microphone that the BBC left running in the crowd. In rather blue language, a Labour-supporting voice muttered that because the party is “going to be so divided … the Conservatives are going to win”. The splitters have listed Jeremy Corbyn’s inadequate handling of Brexit and anti-Semitism within the party as the main reasons for their defection. Other Labour MPs who share these concerns are considering whether to join the mutiny.

History suggests that the grumbling audience member might well be right. Labour last suffered such a schism in 1981, when 28 MPs jumped ship to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which campaigned in coalition with the Liberal Party. Labour was decimated at the next election in 1983. It won only 28% of seats, its lowest share since the second world war.