SPLITTER MPs who defected to the Independent Group were part of a “necessary cleansing” of the Labour Party, Glasgow North East MP Paul Sweeney said.

The Scottish Labour MP said former shadow chancellor Chris Leslie and ex-shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, who have formed a separate Commons grouping with former Tories including Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen, were “self-centred careerists.”

Speaking in Glasgow on Friday night to mark the relaunch of Tribune magazine, Mr Sweeney expressed regret over the defection of Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger, who he said had faced unacceptable “bullying.”