Has Sir Keir Starmer overreacted by suspending seven Labour MPs who rebelled and voted to scrap the two-child benefit cap?
Not according to the Labour leader’s inner circle, obviously. But many Labour MPs – and not just the left-wing “usual suspects” – were stunned at his response.
In a recent interview with Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, Sir Keir said he was ruthless. This draconian action confirms that.
Draconian? Well, the SNP amendment the rebels voted for was defeated by 363 votes to 13, a majority of 260. Not exactly a knife-edge vote.
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Arguably, therefore, seven votes against the government were neither here nor there. But that’s not the point, according to Starmer allies.
A leadership source told Sky News the decision was taken “to show that we expect Labour MPs to support the programme we were elected on”.
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In his letter to the rebels, chief whip Sir Alan Campbell wrote: “While the party recognises the right of members to abstain from voting in the House on matters of deeply held personal conviction, any such possible intention shall be intimated in advance and as soon as possible to the chief whip.”
And he told the rebels: “This does not entitle members to vote contrary to a decision of the Cabinet.”
Obviously the prime minister and Sir Alan want Labour’s newly-elected MPs to understand right from the beginning of this parliament that rebellion will not be tolerated.
Tony Blair, however, who won a Labour landslide in 1997 and again in 2001, was – in comparison with Sir Keir – fairly relaxed about rebellions by the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.
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Back then John McDonnell and his friend Jeremy Corbyn were the leading members of that group, along with Diane Abbott. The Campaign Group regularly staged rebellions of 30 or so Labour MPs.
Contrast that with Sir Keir’s expulsion of Mr Corbyn from the Labour Party. Mr Corbyn’s close friend John McDonnell was among the child benefit rebels and it seems Diane Abbott would have been but “personal reasons” meant she couldn’t be in Westminster to vote against the cap.
The other suspended rebels were Richard Burgon and Zarah Sultana, secretary and chair of the Campaign Group, Imran Hussain, Apsana Begum, Ian Byrne and Rebecca Long-Bailey. Very much the “usual suspects” these days.
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Diane Abbott responded to the suspensions by declaring she was “horrified” that colleagues had been suspended for six months for voting against “when removing the cap is supposed to be party policy”.
In his letter to the rebels, Sir Alan said he’d make a judgement after their six-month suspension about restoring the whip “based on your conduct during the suspension and your willingness to comply with the whip in the future”.
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The next election is almost certainly five years away, so if they behave they will hope to be candidates at the next election. Unless Sir Keir and Sir Alan are the type to bear grudges, of course, which is always possible!
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Some potential rebels could obviously see what was coming if they voted against the government. Kim Johnson, who tabled her own scrap-the-cap amendment, voted with the government and Ian Lavery abstained.
Sir Keir clearly believes that his tough crackdown on the “usual suspects” will serve as a warning to his vast army of newly-elected Labour MPs that he expects total loyalty and discipline from them. Or else.
