There is a gap in the market for the defecting MPs – voters are exasperated with the nastiness of Labour and the Tories

The public simply don’t conduct themselves as badly as MPs do in parliament. They deserve so much better

According to one expert, a centrist party will never work because the average voter wants their MP to be “slightly left of centre” when it comes to bashing big business and taxing the rich, and “slightly right of centre” when it comes to immigration. A cynical, patronising view of the public. Over the last year, I have not met anyone who knows which party they’d vote for in the event of a general election. People are not just fed up with Brexit, they’re profoundly exasperated by the sight of two monolithic party machines failing to reflect the changing values and cultures of modern Britain.

My generation grew up with parents who’d fought in a war, whose politics was deeply ingrained from an early age, inherited from working-class backgrounds. Political allegiances were predestined at birth. My father never forgave me for writing for the Daily Mail. As far as he was concerned, the Rothermere family had been sympathetic to Mosley and the Blackshirts in 1934, running supportive articles in both the Mail and the Mirror (which they owned at the time). It’s ludicrous to blame future generations for the mistakes of their grandparents, and the Daily Mail today (whatever you think of its politics) takes a very strong line against antisemitism, but my father’s brand of socialism never forgave or forgot.

The old idea of left, right and nothing appealing in the middle only works when society divides neatly into the haves and the have-nots. In 1950s Britain that might have been true, but today most of the population describe themselves as middle class. We might sneer at Hyacinth Bouquet, but most voters are aspirational, woolly-minded people (when it comes to political theory) with a social conscience. Most, whether Tory or Labour sympathisers, want an NHS that works better and are prepared to pay more for it. They are worried about immigration because it impacts on their local schools, housing and waiting lists for treatment. Having said that, the British are not racists or antisemitic. Most people listen to the other person’s point of view, they are not ranters or trolls, or people who want to make a fuss. Of course there are exceptions and irritations, but most of us just muddle along together.

Contrast that with the bile, the vile rhetoric and the insanely febrile atmosphere in parliament and the political parties beamed into our homes on the television news; and the childlike way MPs scream and shout at the prime minister or anyone who presents a view they disagree with.

This is not how voters conduct themselves at work, or in a pub.

Any MP who decides to leave their party because the atmosphere is toxic and there is a culture of bullying and antisemitism should have our sympathy and understanding. Instead, they have been threatened with deselection and asked to stand down. Doesn’t that just sum up why they might not want to be part of the modern Labour Party and a Conservative Party sympathetic to the rabidly anti-Europe right wing? Compromise has become a dirty word in government, when it’s a quality that every British worker has to become extremely good at if they want to hold down a job.

The warning signs started last year, when Frank Field – arguably the most distinguished MP in the Commons – resigned the Labour whip in August 2018, citing the “cult of nastiness and intolerance” in his party. Chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, Mr Field has doggedly called Sir Philip Green to account, fighting on behalf of the BHS pensioners. His work for the poorest and most deserving in our society is without question. MP for Birkenhead for 40 years and with a huge majority at the last election, Field received a vote of no confidence from his local party in July 2018 because he dared to vote with the government on Brexit. Labour have said he is no longer a member of the party, the same party that shadow chancellor John McDonnell now says needs to undertake “a mammoth listening exercise”.

Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen. People who rant aren’t interested in listening. Jacob Rees-Mogg and his supporters are as guilty as the members of Momentum, who want to give all the latest defectors the Frank Field treatment. It seems as if politicians themselves have become as intolerant and bigoted as the trollers and Isis sympathisers they want to be demonised and punished with the full force of the law. The home secretary’s kneejerk reaction to the case of Ms Begum is a case in point. He has achieved nothing with his macho stance and will polarise opinion as a result.

The Independent Group doesn’t have to have a simple philosophy, a unified set of objectives or goals. They don’t have to start working on a manifesto. They just need to be allowed to sit in parliament until the next election (and then stand on whatever manifesto they devise), signalling that radical political change is happening in Britain at long last. Already, polls show public support at 14 per cent, many want to pledge money and hundreds of thousands are following on social media. It is early days – let’s not get swept away – but the existence of the group should cause every MP worth their salt to reconsider their own position, to re-evaluate what they stand for and whether their views truly reflect the views of the population at large, not special interest groups.

Personally, I don’t want a second referendum, because the people who lose it will continue to press for another referendum until they get the result they want. If this new grouping can stimulate a realistic approach to Brexit, once that is less jingoistic and more realistic about our essential ties to Europe, that’s a good result.

The only way for politics to reconnect with ordinary people is to rediscover humility and abandon sneering. Compassion, consideration and compromise should be the buzzwords from now on.

The Oscars are past their sell-by date

The 91st Academy Awards take place this Sunday at 5pm in Hollywood, but to watch in the UK, you’d have to subscribe to Sky, where it airs from midnight and then from 1-4am. Fine for people who don’t have work on Monday. The Academy Awards, like the Baftas, have become a big fuss about nothing and increasingly irrelevant when movies are first being screened on demand rather than in a cinema. The favourite for best picture, Roma, first aired on Netflix. The event is a marketing junket, used by luxe brands to promote their wares on the red carpet.

Viewers seem to have lost interest too: last year’s show had the lowest TV ratings in its history, down 19 per cent from 2017. This year, the show has no host after Kevin Hart stepped down following revelations about his homophobic tweets. So who will keep things moving when all those teary speeches and tributes mean it usually lasts almost 4 hours? Step forward Serena Williams – she’s been chosen to present the best picture award along with Barbra Streisand.

Let’s hope it’s not Bohemian Rhapsody, whose original director and producer Bryan Singer stands disgraced and was replaced after being accused of sexual impropriety. I’ve enjoyed The Favourite, Vice, and BlacKkKlansman. I hated the middle-class trials and tribulations of The Wife. Who wins is of little importance anyway: television is where all the groundbreaking drama is these days.