A WEEK, or so Westminster’s most cliched saying goes, is a long time in politics. This pithy turn of phrase from Harold Wilson is likely to get more than one outing in this weekend’s papers, as commentators seek to trumpet the defections from Labour and the Tories to the new Independent Group of MPs.
“Trumpet” is indeed the best verb, as there is likely to be little in the way of understanding or proper analysis.
As the Guardian’s Owen Jones argued earlier this week, no demographic has been crying out for this shift like Britain’s national press. And with this to spur them on, the total lack of a popular base is likely to be no barrier to the Independent Group — until they have to face the electorate, at least.
Scotland's Labour leader cannot continue to evade responsibility for the party's decline, argues LAUREN HARPER
As the PM and his chief of staff’s blunders have mounted up, ANDREW MURRAY wonders who among Labour’s diminished ‘soft left’ might make a bid for the leadership


