I t is odd that the two main parties should be splintering now. It looks as if the imminent crunch of leaving the EU has finally forced party loyalties to break. But the paradox is that, as Anna Soubry admitted, none of this week’s defections changes the parliamentary arithmetic on Brexit. What is more, “the last thing this country needs is a general election” to change that arithmetic, Soubry added.

But the causes of the defections from both main parties go beyond Brexit, and the implications of the launch of the Independent Group of MPs are more for Jeremy Corbyn than for the prime minister.