Government Minister Jess Phillips has defended the use of a four-letter word to describe ex-Labour MPs who opposed cuts to disability benefits, as the party’s civil war intensifies. Four MPs who spoke out against cuts to Personal Independence Payments and said disabled people should be consulted have lost the party whip as Sir Keir Starmer clamps down on rebels, even though their position as now the official policy of the Government. And a source said they were suspended for “persistent k***-headery”.
Ms Phillips, a Home Office Minister, defended the suspensions, said she would have used "much more sweary" language. She defended the suspensions, saying: “We were elected as a team under a banner and under a manifesto, and we have to seek to work together, and if you are acting in a manner that is to undermine the ability of the Government to deliver those things, I don’t know what you expect. Now I speak 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.
Referring to a description of the rebels by an unnamed source in The Times, she said: “I didn’t call it persistent knob-headery, 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”.
In fact, Labour’s manifesto did not say that Personal Independence Payments would be cut. But it did say: “Labour is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do”.
This was the position taken by the four MPs who have been suspended, and they succeeded in convincing the Government to launch a consultation with disabled people before making any benefit changes.
R achael Maskell, one of the MPs who has had the Labour whip suspended for persistently breaching party discipline, said it had been a “torrid time” in Parliament.
She said Sir Keir Starmer had been wrong to suspend the whip from her and three colleagues: “On this occasion, I don’t think he’s got it right.”
The York Central MP, who led a revolt over the Government’s welfare reforms, told the BBC: “There’s got to be dialogue, and that’s how we build bridges. We move forward together, and that’s how we’ve got to move forward as a party, but ensure that our finger is on the pulse of the country.
“And I think MPs who went through those lobbies were incredibly stressed, not wanting to vote against the Government, and for some people that didn’t vote at all, it was a very stressed vote.
“There’s got to be learning from that. It’s been a torrid time in Parliament because of, obviously, a very busy year, but now we’ve got the summer recess I just want people to stop and reflect and to think about how we can be stronger as a party moving forward, and I want to support the Government with that.”
Others who lost the whip include Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff.
All voted against the Government’s benefits reforms as part of a wider rebellion earlier this month, and all aside from Ms Maskell were first elected at last year’s election.
As well as the suspensions, three other MPs have been removed from trade envoy jobs: Rosena Allin-Khan, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammad Yasin.
It is understood that those who have been suspended have had the whip removed due to repeated infringements when it comes to party discipline.
Mr Duncan-Jordan raised concerns about the Government’s changes to the winter fuel allowance before the U-turn while Mr Leishman has been a critic of the Government’s response to the Grangemouth closure.
Mr Hinchliff led a rebellion against ministers’ planning Bill over environmental concerns.
Shadow minister Richard Holden claimed that the suspensions are “a desperate attempt to distract from yet another surge in inflation”.
