Let me introduce you to Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East since 2010. Blackman is quite the charmer. He doesn’t just oppose equal marriage: he has called for the reintroduction of Section 28, the anti-gay law that banned the so-called promotion of homosexuality by local authorities or schools. He has retweeted propaganda shared by far-right thug Tommy Robinson, and hosted an anti-Muslim extremist who justified the genocide of Burma’s Rohingya Muslims in parliament. Here is an MP who will help the hard right take over the Conservative party and, with it, the country. And if there is one thing that may help Blackman, whose parliamentary majority shrank at the last election, and the Mogg-Johnson ascendancy, it is a coming Labour split.
There are said to be at least two centrist plots. The first is orchestrated by Simon Franks, a delusional multimillionaire almost no one has heard of, who believes he can use his wealth to become Britain’s Emmanuel Macron. It seems a centrist party is this season’s must-have accessory for the discerning businessman. Then there is a small faction of Labour MPs, led by Chuka Umunna – who a year ago declared “Unity is the watchword, government is the aim!”– and Chris Leslie, who are reportedly privately discussing when to leave. Relations between the two factions are acrimonious. In the mix are the ghosts of Blairite past, like former Blair speechwriter Philip Collins – who is open that he sees stopping a Corbyn government as a mark of success of any new centrist party – and former Blair chief of staff Jonathan Powell.
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