Three Tory MPs quit to join new Independent Group

Theresa May was reeling today as three Conservative MPs resigned from the party and accused her of allowing hardline Right-wingers to take over.

In an extraordinary walkout, former business minister Anna Soubry, Commons health committee chairwoman Dr Sarah Wollaston and backbencher Heidi Allen crossed the floor of the House just minutes before Prime Minister’s Questions.

The trio marched to the Opposition benches to join the newly formed Independent Group. Ms Soubry stretched out an arm to shake hands with former Labour MP Chuka Umunna, symbolising the formation of a new centre force in politics.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Tory MPs said they could not stay in a party “in the grip of” hardline Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party, Mrs May’s Northern Irish allies in the Commons, and blamed the Prime Minister for the abandonment of one-nation politics and Tory modernisation.

Yesterday extensive efforts were made by Tory whips to contact the trio after the Standard story, but messages went unanswered and they were not seen at the Commons.

Some Tory MPs were furious with their former colleagues. One said: “They won’t be missed.”

Others were sympathetic and blamed the party hierarchy for failing to give enough support to the likes of Ms Soubry who were under relentless attack for their pro-EU views. “I don’t blame them for crossing the floor,” a senior Tory MP told the Standard.

Ms Soubry is the most senior of the trio, a hard-hitting former TV journalist seen as a “natural Tory” by colleagues and regarded as loyal on most issues except Brexit.

Dr Wollaston, a former GP, ran for office under a system brought in by David Cameron to detoxify the party after the expenses scandal, and was picked as a candidate in a public vote of constituents. However, she has been a frequent rebel on social issues and even tax cuts.

Ms Allen survived a confidence vote before the 2017 election after pledging to her local Tory association that she would be “a loyal Conservative”, according to a party source.

Dr Lee told Sky News: “I suspect by the end of the day the Prime Minister is going to have a lot to reflect upon.” He warned against a “polarisation” of politics that was damaging the Tories’ strength as a “broad church”.

“My judgment at the moment is that I would rather stand and fight for my party,” he added.

But he said that if the party moved to the Right “it won’t just be me but many of my colleagues” who consider their positions.