LONDON, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The breakaway independent group of members of parliament (MPs) launched Monday by seven disaffected Labor politicians could be a game changer in British politics, a leading academic expert told Xinhua.
Professor Anthony Glees from the University of Buckingham was giving his reaction following the decision of the seven MPs to resign from the Labor Party in protest at leader Jeremy Corbyn's handling of Brexit and anti-Semitism within the party.
Glees, director of the Center for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS) at the University of Buckingham, told Xinhua: "British politics is ensnared in a deep existential crisis at the moment and no one can properly predict how, or if, we will emerge from it with our stability and our economy in tact."
"My feeling is that this new grouping could be a game changer, and could be as momentous as the formation of the SDP (Social Democratic Party) forty years ago," he added.
SDP was launched in 1981 by a group of disaffected Labor politicians.
Glees said everything depends on how the new group develops, in particular whether there is mass support for them among Labor voters, and whether Conservative MPs like Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve try to do a similar thing in relation to their party.
However, the expert doubted whether they would "cross the floor" by joining the other side.
"If Labor is weakened, as we now expect it to be, the immediate result will be to strengthen the Conservatives, and in particular to boost the confidence of the European Research Group of MPs, the Hard Brexiter wing of the Conservative Party," he added.
"That is because they didn't think Corbyn could win a general election in any case. But with a party split underway, he's even less likely to make 10 Downing Street," said Glees.
He also predicted that a so-called "people's vote" to determine Britain's future in the European Union is now further off, not closer.
Glees added that Labor leader Corbyn and Shadow chancellor John McDonnell "will be spitting blood and bile".
"Yet ironically that will focus the minds of the Remain and soft-Brexit Conservatives, which is why there might be a breakaway in Conservative ranks as well."
Glees said there is also the question whether there's a by-election in the offing. "We might see a repeat of Shirley Williams and Roy Jenkins's success when the SDP was formed.
"It's possible," said Glees, but he added if the new grouping fizzles out, the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU on March 29 becomes ever more likely.
