McDonnell feels the sting of a heavy-handed government

Nineteen days after Labour was elected with a majority of 174, Keir Starmer cut his majority to 160 by suspending seven of his MPs.

- JOHN RENTOUL

John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, was one of the seven expelled from the parliamentary Labour Party for six months for voting against the government.

They protest that they were voting to cut child poverty, by supporting a Scottish National Party amendment to the King’s Speech that called for the two-child limit on benefits to be lifted. They say that Labour wants to lift the limit but cannot afford to do so yet, so this is only an argument about timing. On the other hand, Alan Campbell, Labour’s chief whip, says party rules do not entitle them to “vote contrary to a decision of the cabinet”. He and Starmer were plainly keen to strike, and to strike hard and early, to deter further rebellions.

It seems that McDonnell and his six comrades miscalculated. They thought that if there were a large number of rebels, it would be impossible for the government to discipline them. Tony Blair, for example, took no action against the 47 Labour MPs who voted against a cut in lone-parent benefit in December 1997, seven months after his landslide win.