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Let's get more on that breaking news story this afternoon
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An internal crackdown in the Labour Party by Keir Starmer. Four MPs losing the Labour whip in the last hour or so
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Three others having their government jobs withdrawn after a pretty major rebellion a couple of weeks ago over disability benefits
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Agi Chombray is LBC's political correspondent with the very latest. Agi. Yes, that's right, Ben
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So in the last half hour, it has been confirmed that four MPs
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Neil Duncan Jordan, Chris Hinchcliffe, Brian Leishman and Rachel Maskell have all had the whip withdrawn
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suspended due to repeated breaches of party discipline, pending a future review
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And as you say, three Labour MPs losing their government jobs, their trade envoy roles
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Rosina Allen-Khan, Bel Ribeiro Adi and Mohamed Yassin. This follows a fortnight later after that welfare vote where over 120 MPs signed that reasoned
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amendment. And as I said in that tease there, they thought they had safety in numbers because
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just about a year ago seven Labour MPs voted against the government on the two child benefit cap and they all had the whip suspended And since then you spoken to Labour MPs and they a little bit worried about rebelling because they worried about losing the whip They basically thought look there over 120 of us
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that have signed this reasoned amendment. Basically 120 of us saying we will rebel and we are safe
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And today the proof of that is that they are not. And the government is basically trying to show
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that they are in control of the party, trying to regain that discipline that they had early doors
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just before MPs go off on summer recess. We've heard from a couple of those MPs
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Brian Leishman, who's been suspended, he said that he'd had the whip temporarily suspended
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said he's a proud Labour member and remains committed to the party
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Rachel Maskell, too, has been talking in the last few minutes. I've had a really positive discussion with the chief whip
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about my values, about the purpose of politics, about where I come from in politics
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whether that's from my faith or my experience and representing my constituents. And I come here with those values because my constituents
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have given me a mandate to speak up for them when they have need. There was definitely kind of heightened drama in the Commons this afternoon, I'm told, that
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each one of those MPs was taken into the Chief Whip office one by one given the news And there been a bit of a mixed reaction So some Labour MPs saying look obviously this is necessary things had got out of hand but why did it happen now suggesting
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they thought it might have happened before or quite sooner after the welfare vote. Strange that it's
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two weeks on two weeks after the rebellion now they take the action. Exactly and another one
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basically saying and this person's on the left of the party saying this was the political equivalent
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of putting a hand on a spike and basically saying to other MPs
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do not rebel, this could happen to you. It's interesting that they've picked these four, I guess
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because dozens were prepared to rebel. They were very outspoken senior MPs, people like Louise Hay
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people like Meg Hillier, that were making no secret of their opposition or their plans to try and stop what the government was doing
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Why do you think they've picked these four and not done this sort of on a broader scale
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It's a really, really good question. I think it's worth pointing out that three out of the four of the Labour MPs
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who, well, as they were Labour MPs, are new. Rachel Maskell's the only one that's been around for a longer time
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And I think that matters because it is more difficult to suspend the whip from somebody who has been around for a really, really long time
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is really well respected, really well known within the Labour Party. And if you look at someone like Meg Hillier
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it seemed like she really chose to start off that reasoned amendment And she did it it seemed with a slightly heavy heart She hasn rebelled on other things And I think members of the Labour Party responded to that
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basically thinking, OK, she's taken this big step and this is a huge leap
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If you were to look at someone like Rachel Maskell, she is obviously also extremely well-respected
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within the Labour Party. But she has been someone who has been consistently critical
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of the government over winter fuel, over the two-child benefit cap, over the welfare cuts on TV popping up on LBC
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And I wonder whether that is the difference. But I also wonder whether for the government
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they basically just chosen four people and thought, you know, these are the people that it will be possible
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to at this stage suspend the whip from. Agui, thank you very much indeed. Agui Chombray, LBC's political correspondent
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I don't know if that's a good move. All the Labour MPs I was talking to, I'm sure it's the same for Agui
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after that rebellion saying, number 10 needs to do a far better job of working with us
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putting an arm around backbenchers, being more collaborative, being more respectful. Fast forward two weeks and four MPs
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Rachel Maskell, pretty popular in the party, no longer Labour MPs as we speak this afternoon
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Is that going to achieve anything or is it going to be counterproductive? I suspect it might be
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We'll see, but it might well be the latter
