SOUBRY, ALLEN & WOLLASTON - AN UNHOLY TRINITY.

WHOOPEE !!

Three 'Conservative' Members of Parliament have resigned from their party and joined the Independent Group now sitting in a corner of the House of Commons. When I say 'Conservative' members, that might be a shade misleading.

Sarah Wollaston is distinctly leftish whenever the NHS is discussed, perhaps not surprising in that she's a doctor and has a vested interest; she is also an opponent of Universal Credit. Wollaston is also one of those of a 'nannying' disposition and who favour using financial measures to make us all do what is good for us - minimum alcohol pricing is one of her favourite notions. She takes a typical 'liberal elite' view on other social issues such as 'gender equality', abortion and the lunacy surrounding same sex marriage and all that goes with it.

The second resignee, Heidi Allen, comes from a wealthy background and only entered parliament in 2015. She seems to have made little real impact  but is another with a strong 'social' philosophy and has been a serious critic of the government's attempts to reduce reliance on state benefits, especially Universal Credit which she loathes. She sees herself as being a 'modern and progressive' woman as if being 'modern and progressive' is an automatic avenue to being right. In fact, this is the type of terminology more usually heard from Labour supporters. Ambitious in the extreme, Allen put herself forward to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, planning, somehow, to combine that role with being an MP; thankfully she was not selected.

The arrogant and loud mouthed Anna Soubry seems to consider anyone with genuinely Conservative views as being 'hard right' or 'extreme'. She is another who supports 'social' issues but, until Brexit popped up, has rarely made much of an impact; even as a junior minister she achieved little of note. As Public Health Minister, she criticised retailers for forcing customers to pass "rows of unhealthy food" on their way to the checkouts, while her own approach was clearly about forcing people to do what she wanted instead, hardly a Conservative approach to life.

All three, though Wollaston only belatedly, are fervent Europhiles and seem determined to keep the UK closely tied to, and preferably still in, the EU for ever. Soubry, in particular has been extremely vocal and has shouted her views from the rooftops; she's been critical, in fact rude, about those who favour leaving the EU and has voiced her opinions as if she has a monopoly on being right. Wollaston and Allen, while being less strident, have been consistent critics of the government's position of enacting the outcome of the 2016 referendum, not exactly a democratic approach.

Will they be missed ? I doubt it. None of them are household names and the likelihood must be that, after a brief moment in the sun, they'll fade away. Let's hope so, anyway.