The first step for Labour's exiles: bring 29 more with them

It has no name, no logo, no staff and no money. Yet those who packed into the tiny room above Westminster Bridge as seven MPs announced they were quitting the Labour party were left in no doubt that this was the beginning of a new political party.

“The crucial word is yet,” one of the MPs said afterwards. “We are not a new party – yet.”

As of Monday, the group are independents with no special status in the House of Commons. They hope to be something much more concrete, depending on their success in persuading other MPs to join them.

In the short term the group has one central task – to convince 29 more disgruntled MPs from any party colour to join their group. That would give them official third party status – overtaking the SNP and access not just to more short money but also a prized guaranteed slot for the group’s leader at every PMQs, replacing the SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.

Those MPs involved in the new group’s organisation stress that they hope this week will be dominated by several news cycles’ worth of new developments, including an expectation of more defections. If they do not materialise, the group will find it hard to maintain momentum.

Two names mentioned as the most likely Conservative targets are the Tory MPs Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston, both independent-minded and supporters of the People’s Vote campaign.

The most crucial name on the list of seven is Luciana Berger, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree who has faced a slew of antisemitic abuse including death threats that have seen more than one abuser put behind bars.

Berger, who is nine months pregnant, had not often been talked about in the same breath as MPs like Chuka Umunna and Chris Leslie who have been on the brink of quitting for many months over the party’s Brexit policy. Yet it was she who strode into the room first and chaired the event, looking the most like the group’s leader.

The group will meet later this week to decide how to structure their group – which could involve a process for selecting a leader. Much of the future will depend how many more MPs join them.

Labour MPs have been grappling with how to respond – particularly with the departure of Berger over antisemitism. One MP close to Berger suggested last week that they would find it hard not to follow her out the door.

“If we have said time and again we have standing in solidarity with her over antisemitism, what does it count for if she leaves and we stay?” the MP said.

Another senior Labour MP said there were several more MPs on the brink of resigning – and that 12 had originally been committed to joining the group. He said Corbyn’s reaction had basically been “a declaration of war rather than conciliatory, with no acknowledgement at all that there is a problem in the culture of the Labour party”.

For now, the Labour leadership is not outwardly concerned by the resignations. Those close to Corbyn feel that the MPs quitting are hardly household names – unlike the former cabinet ministers who left to join the SDP in 1981.

There is also scepticism that the policy positioning of those leaving the party will appeal to an electorate that they believe has rejected “centrist, Blairite” values.

Multiple MPs said their response would be governed by Corbyn’s own reaction, including his response to deselection attempts and attacks on social media. A hardline response would prompt more to depart, many MPs said.

Yet others are cautious about the effect of more resignations on the success of the People’s Vote campaign – mostly because the “People’s Vote” campaign would become closely associated with a group opposed to Labour.

Pro-EU MPs are concerned at the loss of their colleagues for the organisation of the anti-Brexit movement pushing for a second referendum in Labour. The internal party WhatsApp groups have already been reorganised, cutting out Leslie, Umunna and the others who have been instrumental in shaping pro-EU arguments and parliamentary tactics.

The official People’s Vote campaign moved at lightning speed to distance themselves from the new movement – despite being associated with all of its MPs. One of the MPs involved said they had not discussed their departures in official People’s Vote campaign meetings, for fear of hostile leaking.

Privately, some organisers are furious and say that the splitters could irreparably damage their relationship with left-wing groups and the Labour leadership.

Questions are also likely to be asked about other Labour MPs currently sitting as independents, as well as fierce Corbynsceptics who are deeply opposed to a second referendum.

MPs at the launch dodged the prospect of others like John Woodcock and Ivan Lewis joining the grouping – both Corbyn critics who quit the party after being suspended over sexual harassment allegations.

Frank Field, who also quit the party in disgust at antisemitism allegations and a no confidence vote by his constituents, is a determined Brexiter who has backed the government’s exit deal.

At the moment, all members of the new grouping are supporters of a second referendum. Yet sources suggested this would not necessarily be a prerequisite forever. Members of the group would hardly admit it in public, but there may come a point in the next few months when it becomes apparent that that campaign has failed and the group’s aims for the next phase of Brexit become more flexible.

MPs in the group are adamant they have no link to other efforts to create a new movement in the centre ground, such as the former Labour leader Tony Blair, or one under construction by some ex-Blair advisers including his former speechwriter Jonathan Powell.

“If you’re going to build a new politics it’s got to be the people who are currently on the field,” one of the MPs said. “This has to be a project for current politicians and activists and people who want to build a new politics.”