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2wks ago, Opinium had Labour 3pts ahead of the Tories, in line with most other polling companies (excluding Tory-owned YouGov). Today, in a poll commissioned by the Observer, Opinium have Labour 7pts behind the Tories. An astonishing 10pt swing. Fishy. 1/7 #Marr
Coincidentally, today's Observer has a front page story suggesting 6 "centrist" Labour MPs are ready to resign from the party, presumably as a precursor to forming a new centrist party with various disgruntled Tories and Lib Dems. More fishy. 2/7
Coincidentally, today's Observer also has an op-ed by @JamesEnders, CEO of Opinium, in which he claims there is a reservoir of untapped support for a new centrist party. At the bottom of the op-ed, it states Endersby is on the advisory board of Progressive Centre UK. Fishier. 3/7
Progressive Centre UK describe themselves as "a next generation ideas lab, connecting progressive Britain to the world", whatever that means. Essentially, a centrist think tank stuck in a late-90s time warp of Spice Girls merchandise and combat trousers. More fishier. 4/7
Coincidentally, the chair of the advisory board of Progressive Centre UK is a certain "centrist" Labour MP called @ChukaUmunna. As we all know, Umunna has been a permanent thorn in the side of @jeremycorbyn, taking every opportunity to undermine him. Even more fishier. 5/7
It's an open secret that Chuka Umunna has been planning a new centrist party for ages. Call me an old cynic, but I can't help feeling there's a link between today's dodgy Opinium poll, the Observer's front page story, James Endersby's op-ed, Progressive Centre UK and Umunna. 6/7
I fully expect the likes of Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie and Angela Smith to use tomorrow's PLP meeting to re-hash Labour's so-called "antisemitism crisis" and to accuse Jeremy Corbyn of siding with Venezuela's "brutal dictatorship". It's all so predictable. 7/7
