The Independent Group celebrated its first meeting by going for a cheeky Nando’s

They promised to spice up British politics, so it was fitting that the Independent Group had its first meal together at Nando’s.

The group of 11 former Labour and Conservative MPs, who controversially quit their parties last week, tucked into some chicken at the popular food chain on Monday evening after their first official meeting.

One of the group, Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, tweeted a picture of the MPs around a table in Nando’s.

He wrote: “First @TheIndGroup meal out before votes tonight at Nando’s!”

Gavin Shuker, who was appointed as the group’s convener before they headed for chicken, joked about the MPs’ sauce choices.

He tweeted: “Hacks struggling for an angle on how best to report the kremlinology of the group be aware I kept a list of medium, lemon and herb, extra hot and my DMs are open.”

Eight Labour MPs were followed by three Tories in quitting their parties to form the new centrist grouping.

At their first formal meeting as a group on Monday afternoon, they unanimously appointed former Labour MP Mr Shuker as convener, but did not elected a leader.

Speaking after the meeting, the group said it had discussed its values and priorities, but former Conservative Anna Soubry said the most important priority was Brexit.

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The Broxtowe MP added that the group of 11 parliamentarians will be supporting the Cooper-Letwin amendment this week.

She said: “The most important thing this week is Brexit. We know we have the Cooper-Letwin amendment, I don’t think there’s any doubt about the fact we will be supporting it.”

Mr Shuker said parliamentary business was the “most important thing we can be doing”.

And Heidi Allen said: “We have just had a really good first meeting, discussing a lot of things structural around process, values and priorities.

“We have elected Gavin (Shuker) as convener. That was a unanimous choice.”

Ex-Labour member Chuka Umunna insisted at the weekend that they were not yet a party or a movement, with a fully worked out programme for government, but simply a group of independent MPs.

Members have said they are united by a shared “non-tribal” belief in “progressive” values combined with deep unhappiness at the directions their former parties had taken, particularly on Brexit.

Among the ex-Labour MPs there was also anger at what they said was the failure of the party leadership to deal with the spread of anti-Semitism in the party.

However they are likely to face pressure to move quickly to formally establish themselves as a party – with reports that some former Labour backers are ready to help bankroll them.

Mr Umunna, a former shadow minister, played down reports that he was favourite to be the first leader, although he acknowledged that he wanted to play the “biggest role” in the group.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson said she was expecting to meet with the new group later this week, having spoken with some of its members in recent days.

Ms Swinson said the Lib Dems were ready to “work with” the new grouping, though she played down suggestions of a formal pact between the parties, insisting she had no fixed blueprint for how they should co-operate.

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