Chuka Umunna: I never felt totally comfortable in the Labour party

Exclusive: Streatham MP says decision to breakaway and form TIG, ‘hugely liberating’

Chuka Umunna, who quit Labour last week to form the breakaway Independent Group, has said he never felt “comfortable” in his old party – and found his mixed cultural and class background were “a chain round my neck”.

One of eight Labour MPs who joined the Independent Group (TIG), citing antisemitism and Jeremy Corbyn’s handling of Brexit, the Streatham MP said the decision to leave behind what he called a “culture of fear” in the Labour party had been “hugely liberating”.