TORONTO STAR: UK politics fractures further as 3 Conservatives defect

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Rob Ford, professor of politics at the University of Manchester, said the realignment — “a cross-party split of the centre against the extremes” — was unprecedented in postwar British politics.

And while Britain’s political system has long been resistant to change, Ford said the dominance of the two big parties, Conservatives and Labour, was weakening.

“People don’t have a ‘team’ that they feel attached to in the numbers they used to,” he said. “So that makes it easier for a new force to break through.

“And there is a new form of tribal attachment in town, which is attachment to your (Brexit) referendum vote. This new party is clearly going to be the political wing of ‘Remain.’”

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/europe/2019/02/20/3-uk-conservative-lawmakers-defect-to-new-independent-group.html