The demise of change uk was far from inevitable. A post-mortem is needed urgently. | thearticle

So, the splitters have split. Six of the 11 Change UK MPs, including high profile figures Chuka Ummuna and Luciana Berger, as well as interim leader Heidi Allen, quit the group this week.

Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker and Sarah Wollaston followed them out the door. Anna Soubry, the only former Conservative remaining, replaces Allen as leader. Former Labour MPs Chris Leslie, Mike

 Gapes, Joan Ryan and Anne Coffey are, for the moment at least, staying to fight on alongside her. Soubry told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that those who left argued that the disparate

band of MPs should not be a party that fielded candidates, but a movement. This matches with a statement by those leaving, who said that they were “returning to supporting each other as an

independent grouping of MPs”. “This a long-haul game and its tough,” Soubry argued, before dismissing the idea that the dream of building the new party was over. She might be right. Maybe

Change UK will rise to conquer in the future, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it at the moment. Some have argued that the group’s demise was inevitable. That it would prove too hard to

start a new centrist, Remain-focused party, with all the infrastructure that requires and all the hurdles our political system puts in the way of doing so. There was also the feeling that

there were too many egos at play for it ever to really work. I disagree. To dismiss their demise as inevitable is to let off those involved far too easily. Change UK made some terrible

errors. As I wrote previously on this site, the group has displayed an amateurish approach to branding and communications. “If TIG wants to be anything more than a short-lived vanity 

project,” I warned, “it needs to sharpen up, and fast.” It failed to do so. There is every indication that, beset feuding and cliques, and after a shockingly bad showing in the European

Election, Change UK is on the verge of evaporating altogether. As well as the branding basics, the group failed to generate momentum at key points. They had three days of people joining –

the original seven Labour MPs, followed by Joan Ryan, followed by the three Conservatives. Then nothing. They failed to even convince people who were already quitting their parties to join.

Not getting Ian Austin, who represents a Brexit supporting Midlands constituency, is one thing. Similar is true with Frank Field, who has voted with the government on Brexit. However,

failing to recruit Nick Boles struck me as a major missed opportunity. It is true that Boles differs slightly from the group on Brexit. He wants a Norway-like relationship with the EU, not a

second referendum. But his brand of moderate politics would have fitted perfectly within Change UK, and they surely should have found a way to accommodate him. His joining would have also

given the party a bit of a boost at a time when the energy was falling away after its launch. This never happened, and it is hard to see where the next Change UK MP comes from. We should not

dismiss the unexpected return of the Lib Dems as a factor either. This was only partly helped by Change UK’s failures – the Lib Dems did well in their own right too. There is no guarantee

that the Lib Dems will be able to retain their current level of support, but the manner in which they have recovered in recent months is staggering. They clearly swallowed up a lot of votes

that Change UK might have expected to receive when it formed. Despite the criticism heading their way, I do think that those who quit their parties to form Change UK should be praised for

their bravery. Soubry said similar in that Newsnight interview. Quitting a political party is gruelling and upsetting. Doing so in this current political climate, in a desperate attempt to

make things better, is gutsy. The mocking tweets from tribalist politicians like Shadow Education Secretary Angela Reyner sneering at the group’s split are not deserved. But what is deserved

is criticism. A proper post-mortem as to how it came to this is essential. Many centrist voters will surely be feeling let down that the great white (with three black stripes) hope that

emerged from the Brexit-bleakness when The Independent Group was originally formed has made almost no mark. We barely know what their policies are. If a snap General Election happens there

could overnight be no Change UK MPs.  The situation looks bleak. Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps Change UK can take some hope from the Lib Dems and rise from the flames. They have an awful lot to

fix if that is going to happen.