Labour MPs Demand Colleagues Lose Whip Over Palestine Action Vote
3 min read
Labour MPs have urged the government to remove the party whip from nine MPs who voted against proscribing Palestine Action.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons voted to proscribe the organisation under terrorism legislation.
The move passed by 385 votes to 26, with nine current Labour MPs defying the government to vote against it. They were Diane Abbott, Tahir Ali, Ian Byrne, Imran Hussain, Clive Lewis, Grahame Morris, Nadia Whittome, Kim Johnson and Richard Burgon.
Several Labour MPs have urged government whips to take action against the group, PoliticsHome understands. “There needs to be consequences," said the backbencher.
A number of MPs who have already had the Labour whip removed voted against the measure, including former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana.
Labour MPs also complained about McDonnell and Sultana's conduct during the debate.
McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, attempted to intervene in Home Office minister Dan Jarvis’s speech multiple times and used a point of order to ask what would happen if he were to join the protest against proscribing Palestine Action that was taking place outside Downing Street during the debate.
McDonnell told PoliticsHome: "When a minister is driving through a significant policy potentially criminalising the actions of MPs, it behoves the minister to allow interventions to question the policy.
“A traditional method to overcome ministers’ resistance to allow interventions is to press the demand vociferously. That’s what I did.
"If some members are not aware of the tradition, they are now. Many of the new members are finding their feet and beginning to assert themselves, which I welcome, and I look forward to more of them forcefully intervening."
Labour MPs complained about Sultana telling the government it had its hands covered in blood over its role in Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. Sultana was an independent MP who sat on the government benches at the time of writing. On Thursday night, however, she said she was quitting as a Labour member and setting up a new left-wing party with Corbyn, though The Sunday Times later reported that Corbyn had not agreed.
There was also anger when she raised Labour MP Jon Pearce's role as Labour Friends of Israel.
One Labour MP who was in the debate said she "shouldn’t be anywhere near our benches".
Another said "disgraceful behaviour by numerous hard left MPs on the Labour benches" must "now call into question their future commitment to the party".
"Peaceful protest to support the people of Palestine is legitimate and should be supported by anyone wanting to secure our long-cherished civil liberties. But Palestine Action has gone well beyond that, including targeting charities and clearly acting in breach of anti-terrorism legislation.
"The righteous, self-entitled barracking of ministers and other MPs and raising of scurrilous points of order undertaken by numerous MPs in the chamber yesterday undermines that argument and should not be tolerated," they told PoliticsHome.
Sultana told PoliticsHome: "It’s telling that some Labour MPs are more focused on policing language than condemning the UK government’s direct and ongoing role in the genocide in Gaza.
"While they seek to silence those of us who speak truth to power, the fact remains: the government’s hands are soaked with Palestinian blood. No amount of deflection can hide the devastating human cost of their actions."
The government has moved to proscribe Palestine Action after four of its members last month broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged military planes.
Speaking last month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the "disgraceful attack" was "the latest in the long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action".
"The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk," she said.
