Labour rebels sounded defiance today after Keir Starmer attempted to restore his authority over the party.
The PM moved to suspend the whip from four MPs, and fired three more from trade envoy roles, in the wake of the humiliating welfare revolt.
Rachael Maskell, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Neil Duncan-Jordan will now sit as independents after being punished for behaviour that was branded ‘persistent kn**headery’.
Home Office minister Jess Phillips said that Sir Keir could not ‘govern’ without enforcing ‘discipline’, jibing at those who went against the leadership: ‘What did you think was going to happen?’
However, others who participated in the rebellion warned that Sir Keir – who last week suggested he is a ‘hard b***ard’ – has made things worse by attempting ‘command and control’.
The action came yesterday as Westminster prepares to head into its summer break next week.
Keir Starmer moved to suspend the whip from four MPs, and fired three more from trade envoy roles, in the wake of the humiliating welfare revolt
Home Office minister Jess Phillips said that Sir Keir could not ‘govern’ without enforcing ‘discipline’, jibing at those who went against the leadership: ‘What did you think was going to happen?’
Rachael Maskell (left), the York Central MP, was a leading figure in the insurrection last month that forced the PM and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to all-but abandon plans to trim the UK’s spending on disability hand-outs
Ms Maskell, the York Central MP, was a leading figure in the insurrection last month that forced the PM and Chancellor Rachel Reeves to all-but abandon plans to trim the UK’s spending on disability hand-outs.
The others have all clashed with the government over welfare and other issues including Net Zero and relaxing planning rules.
Former shadow minister Rosena Allin Khan, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammed Yasin have been stripped of their roles as trade envoys.
All seven voted against the Universal Credit Bill, even after ministers removed every contentious change to personal injury payments (PIP) that it contained.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if Labour MPs needed to show more loyalty, Ms Maskell said: ‘I think the learning from this is that there’s got to be more listening and that’s got to be reciprocated’.
‘I don’t see myself as a ringleader,’ she said.
‘I joined with other colleagues who had similar concerns about this legislation.
‘You know, we ultimately do believe that cutting money from some of the poorest in our society is not what the Labor Government should be doing.
‘We should be ensuring those people are taken out of poverty, have the support that they need.’
Former frontbencher Barry Gardiner told BBC Newsnight: ‘I’m sorry that today it would appear that a hard line has been adopted.
‘I don’t think it helps the party, I don’t think it helps No10.
‘We want to be a united party taking what is an incredibly progressive agenda forward.
‘But there needs to be that better way of listening to each other, engaging with each other and not thinking that if somebody disagrees with us they have to be disciplined.
‘A political party is not something you can command and control.’
Clive Lewis, Richard Burgon and Jon Trickett were among other Labour MPs voicing solidarity with colleagues who had been punished.
But Ms Phillips told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘There has to be an element of discipline otherwise you end up not being able to govern.’
She added: ‘I am a plain speaker and I will tell you that I disagree often with directions that are going on, and I spend time working with colleagues, both on the back and front benches, ensuring that we discuss those things.
Some Labour MPs have voiced solidarity with their suspended colleagues
‘I think that constantly taking to the airwaves and slagging off your own Government, I have to say, what did you think was going to happen?’
Ms Phillips said she spoke out ‘against things I do not like, both internally and sometimes externally, all the time’.
‘There is a manner of doing that that is the right way to go about it. And sometimes you feel forced to rebel and vote against,’ she said.
Referring to a description of the rebels by an unnamed source in The Times, she said: ‘I didn’t call it persistent knobheadery, but that’s the way that it’s been termed by some.’
She said she would have described it as ‘something much more sweary’ because ‘we are a team, and we have to act as a team in order to achieve something’.
