The mobile phones of Heidi Allen, Sarah Wollaston and Anna Soubry were “melting” in the 24 hours before their departure. Allen, the MP for South Cambridgeshire, said it was proof enough that the party thought she was a lost cause. Then the three former Tory MPs entered the chamber of the Commons, striding purposefully towards the opposition benches. This is purely and solely about Brexit.”Wollaston and Soubry had been facing deselection efforts, which some former Tory colleagues were certain would have succeeded. “They had nothing to lose.”Allen said her private messages from sympathetic Tory colleagues had been touching but told their own story about the state of the party.

Source: The Guardian February 20, 2019 19:59 UTC