circular firing squad

plural circular firing squads

1. idiomaticA political party or other group experiencing considerable disarray because the members are engaging in internal disputes and mutual recrimination.

   He said it was not the party that had lost the last election, but the "circular firing squad" of MPs.

   1997 October 9, Anthony Bevins, “The Tories: MPs get the blame for May election defeat”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 22 May 2009

   2 more examples

   "What we're seeing here is a kind of circular firing squad, with everybody standing in a circle pointing fingers at the person beside them," said Representative Robert S. Walker of Pennsylvania, the chief deputy Republican whip.

   1992 March 26, Michael deCourcy Hinds, “Capitol Hill Memo: After Scandals, the Hush of Paranoia”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 May 2009

   [J]ust about everyone who helped create this mess is busy pointing fingers, scapegoating the other guys, firing the lower-downs and diming out the higher-ups. Last week what was once envisioned as a new kind of company resembled little more than a circular firing squad of executives, accountants, consultants and lawyers.

   2002 January 28, Michael Duffy et al., “What Did They Know And...When Did They Know It?”, in Time