On Wednesday afternoon the hammer fell. Labour MPs Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff and Brian Leishman were all stripped of the whip, with no timeline for return. Their behaviour will be monitored in the meantime; they are expected to vote alongside the Government as a pre-condition for an eventual return to grace.
But whips had taken their time to look into the behaviour of individuals, deciding that organising rebels, and repeated breaches of the whip, were where they drew the line for discipline. The four suspended MPs had also rebelled against the Government on other legislation including the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the Public Authorities Bill.
But immediately Labour MPs began questioning why the relatively defenceless and junior MPs were disciplined when it had been senior colleagues – including Treasury Committee chair Meg Hillier and Work and Pensions Committee chair Debbie Abrahams – who had been organising an earlier amendment to change the welfare bill. In the end neither rebelled against the Government, but by then the bill had been pulled to pieces by last-minute concessions.
Maskell, an evangelical Christian, released a statement on Thursday in which she said she had a “positive conversation” with Chief Whip Sir Alan Campbell on Wednesday. “There are lines I can’t cross because of where I come from in politics with my faith,” she said, referring to her decision to rebel on the welfare vote. Meanwhile, a party source described the conversation as “long and circuitous” and agreed Maskell’s religious beliefs were “behind all her troublemaking.”
Yet while some members of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the trade union movement suggested the act of disciplining the rebels showed how weak Starmer is, what is more surprising is that some Labour MPs had urged the whips to throw the book at the rebels.
An insider said i,that in the fortnight since the shambolic welfare vote some Labour MPs had been “behaving like they’re Billy Big-Bollocks” seeking to have up to 40 of their colleagues disciplined for breaking the rules. In the end their pleas were overruled by wiser greybeards who could see ahead to the consequences of creating dozens of parliamentary martyrs who’d be prepared to rebel again on forthcoming issues such as the two-child benefit cap.
square KITTY DONALDSON The gross incompetence of the Afghan leak knows no end
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“How is that helpful?” a senior Labour MP questioned, speaking to The i Paper. “It now becomes about that phrase rather than what these people have done wrong.”
The farce surrounding former Labour MP Zarah Sultana’s attempts to “co-lead” the party with Corbyn – he denied wanting to take charge – took the wheels off any momentum that might have been gained from her move. In fact, the episode reminded Labour MPs of the chaos and indecisiveness of the Corbyn years and the hard left’s obsession with procedural process.
More widely, some MPs who might flirt with the idea of joining Corbyn and co, and disaffected Labour activists, are reluctant to shrug off Labour’s longtime association with the trade union movement by supporting an up-and-coming movement.
Westminster, meanwhile, is not a happy ship. Some Labour MPs now describe their links with the Government as “contractual”, arguing that although Starmer and his team got them elected, they are unlikely to serve a second term. “How long does a contract bind you?” one Labour MP wondered aloud to The i Paper. “I’m also trying to serve my constituents the best I can; I’ve got a contract with them too.”
Meantime Labour MPs are still reeling from how the Government has had to allocate billions of pounds to deal with the Afghan data breach cover-up, with estimates of the cost to the taxpayer ranging from £6bn to £7bn.
If Starmer has 99 problems, the rebels are just one. Parliament breaks up next week, and for No 10 the summer holidays can’t come soon enough.
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