Commons coup Success 'makes Starmer stronger'

Yesterday lunchtime Keir Starmer was facing the biggest crisis of his career.

- Kiran Stacey

Earlier in the week, he had been warned that as many as 100 of his MPs, including at least two of his shadow cabinet, were willing to rebel by voting for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza unless Labour brought forward its own amendment calling for one.

Having agreed to publish exactly such an amendment, the Labour leader now faced another hurdle: the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, was being advised not to pick it and instead call a different one from the government.

Starmer decided to intervene personally and visited Hoyle in his office behind the House of Commons chamber.

Those briefed on the meeting said the Labour leader warned Hoyle that Labour MPs' security was at risk. Many had been deluged by threats and abuse since abstaining on a similar SNP motion in November. With hundreds of protesters outside parliament, they worried worse might be to come.

After a tense meeting, and with Labour MPs desperately stalling inside the chamber, Hoyle eventually agreed. As the Gaza debate started, the speaker announced he would call both the Labour and government amendments, prompting fury on the government and SNP benches and huge relief on the Labour ones.

After a dramatic day in parliament, the speaker's standing, at least on the government's benches, had been left badly damaged. Starmer, however, had pulled off a political coup, eventually avoiding any rebellion at all after the government decided to pull out entirely from the votes.

"We came minutes away from disaster," said one senior Labour official. "Thank God for Lindsay Hoyle."