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1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

They have loads of MPs who didn’t vote for that amendment. They will fill the spaces easily, they aren’t even high profile positions.

That's the crux of this whole thing for me. For politics nerds and news junkies this story is a big deal. The average punter, less so. I'm reasonably well engaged and other than Jess Phillips not only had I not heard of the people resigning, I'm not sure I even knew the positions they were resigning from were even a thing.

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33 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

That's the crux of this whole thing for me. For politics nerds and news junkies this story is a big deal. The average punter, less so. I'm reasonably well engaged and other than Jess Phillips not only had I not heard of the people resigning, I'm not sure I even knew the positions they were resigning from were even a thing.

well, apart from Starmer and maybe Reeves who has heard of any of them?

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1 hour ago, Barry Fish said:

This blew me away yesterday.  This must look ridiculous on an international stage.

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Not in vast areas of Australia, sadly. Plenty of people lap up sh*t like that over here. "Boat people" is how they're referred to, as if they're en entirely different f**king species.

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1 minute ago, Barry Fish said:

I view the Australians as the lowest form of pond life on these sort of issues so its terrible we have reduced ourselves to their level.

I can't disagree. Labor (as it's spelt here) supported the Liberal (Conservatives) policy of towing boats back out to international waters and leaving them there for years. Some truly inhumane policy and sentiment going on politically, supported by a racism that seems prevalent among far too many. Not all, obviously.

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3 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

So is this just gesture legislation that they know won’t get through, but will appeal to the red wall?

Also bear in mind that Sunak is bad at politics so he could think this will get through and then be surprised it doesn’t. 

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Below from a New Statesman article by Freddie Hayward.


Keir Starmer’s authority took a knock last night when 56 Labour MPs voted for an SNP amendment calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Ten frontbenchers, including Jess Phillips, resigned in the largest revolt since Starmer became leader. But the situation might not be as bad for him as it appears.

When MPs break ranks they can get a taste for rebellion. Ask a Tory whip. If you are already classed as a rebel, and therefore less likely to get promoted, why not vote for what you believe in one more time? At the very least, the rebellion signals that Starmer’s grip over his parliamentary party is not absolute despite the appearance of control and unity since the expulsion of Jeremy Corbyn in 2020. The passion with which MPs have rebelled speaks to the problems any future vote on Gaza will cause Starmer. 

But the problem shouldn’t be overstated because, in the words of John McDonnell, the Gaza vote was largely a matter of conscience. On ITV’s Peston show, McDonnell, one of the rebels himself, downplayed the significance of the rebellion for Starmer. “On issues of conscience you should allow a free vote,” he said

 

Even if the rebels were inclined to make a habit of disobedience, the connection between Labour’s position on Gaza and, say, tax policy seems small. One does not necessarily follow from the other: the strength of feeling over Gaza is far stronger than over fiscal matters. 

In addition, no frontbenchers called for Starmer to resign and the rebels’ resignation letters sought to reassure the leadership that they would cause no further trouble. Phillips, the most prominent frontbencher to resign, wrote that she would “join the backbenches committed to being nothing but an asset to the delivery of a better future and Labour government”. Who wants to jeopardise the best chance of a Labour government in 13 long years?

That is part of the reason why the likelihood of reconciliation between the leadership and some of the rebels is high. The pool of MPs from which Starmer must choose shadow ministers is limited. He will probably need some to return to the frontbench soon. And with government beckoning, they might be happy to oblige.

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