The split finally happened in the UK, but it was smaller than expected. 7 Labour MPs quit the party to form "The Independent Group" or TIG. They were later joined by an 8th Labour MP.
This morning, 3 Conservative MPs have left their party to join TIG.
Having members from both sides will help to bolster the force as a new centrist group, but TIG is explicitly not a party. I will continue to monitor the situation.
Meanwhile in Israel, Tzipi Livni's career in politics is over, at least for now. After failing to merge into Gantz's Hosen L'Yisrael, she has thrown in the towel and withdrawn her party, Hatnuah, from the election. This will free up some much needed votes from the 1% or 2% of Israelis who were backing the party.
Jewish Home meanwhile have announced their plan to run as a single list with the parties Yachad, Otzma Yehudit, and Tkuma. Tkuma had run with the party in the last election and has two MKs. Otzma and Yachad ran on a single list in 2015 but narrowly failed to meet the threshold. Both parties contain Kahanist factions, which want a one state solution where non-jews have no voting rights. It is likely with this backing the party will, in fact, pass the threshold in the election.
The big question is if Gantz and Lapid agree to a merger before tomorrow's deadline. Polls show a united party either tied or slightly ahead of Likud. They have apparently agreed on a joint platform (which isn't a big surprise as the partys are very similar and not very ideological) but the sticking point is Lapid is insisting on the PM job being rotated at mid-term and a solid pledge that the new party would never consider being in a government headed by Netanyahu.
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