[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

The irony is if any of these folk had the courage of their convictions months ago we could have had 11 separate by-elections they could have treated as a proxy-Brexit referendum.

It’d have no legal standing of course but could have demonstrated a clear shift in public opinion if they stood on a single issue. If they all won convincingly it’d have some weight. If not however...

As the "If not however ….." phrase is the case, what preceded it had less value. The "If not" bit embraces a number of variables that muddy the waters somewhat:

1. Did any or all of them think they could change things within their party?
2. Obviously the 7 had reached their tipping point this week.
3. Did the next 4 jump on the bandwagon or would they have done it anyway?
4. Would a by-election be a proxy vote on Brexit or Anti-Semitism?

The more serious problems in the Labour Party are Anti-Semitism, IMO, and the shift towards bully-enforced Marxism.

The serious problems in the Conservative Party are Brexit and social justice.

The aggregation of these rifts in the UK's core political parties show clearly that Parliamentary politics is broken. The question of by-elections as a proxy-referendum is moot, IMO.