The backlash against Keir Starmer’s ruthless decision to suspend seven MPs for voting against the government has been completely slammed – even from within the Labour Party.
On Tuesday, a handful of MPs on the left of the party voted for an amendment calling for the two-child benefit cap – which prevents parents from getting help from the state for their third child – to be scrapped.
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The government’s bid to keep the cap won by some margin, but the prime minister still chose to kick the rebels out of the parliamentary party for six months.
The move has attracted a huge amount of scrutiny from the new prime minister.
Mish Rahman, a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) which is the governing body of the party, claimed Starmer was showing “complete control freakery, authoritarianism”.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “Starmer thinks that he’s showing that he’s a strong leader but really it’s complete control freakery, authoritarianism, showing people what he’ll do if people disagree with him.
“I don’t think this benefits him, the party or anyone in the long run just because, I mean these are backbenchers, they’re not frontbenchers, these people are there literally to represent their constituencies and they have to go back and explain why they would have voted.”
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Rahman then claimed: “There’s no reason why even if these seven people had voted against it, why they had to have the whip taken away from them.
“I mean, they literally voted to end child poverty in the way that they thought voting against this would.”
He said everyone in the Labour Party agrees the cap is “heinous, it’s cruel, it’s punishing” anyway.
Labour’s Nadia Whittome, who did vote with the government, criticised the suspension, too.
She said: “The government’s approach to party discipline has been appalling. No MP should have lost the whip for their vote this evening, especially on a policy that almost everyone in Labour opposes.”
Meanwhile, Zarah Sultana, who lost the whip over the vote last night, told the media this morning she was victim of a “macho virility test” but that she “slept well knowing that I told a stand against child poverty”.
Another one of the now ousted rebels, Aspana Begum, told Sky News: “I myself was quite shocked and surprised at the way I was treated.
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“I had a very difficult election. Many people said to me, you know, we’re happy to support you as an individual but we’re finding it very hard to support Labour at the time, for a number of different reasons.”
She said some voters are “not seeing a difference between the two main parties in parliament”.
“It’s unacceptable, but that demonstrates the way in which that draconian stand was taken in regards to the scrapping of the two-child limit,” she said.
The backlash also extended to the House of Lords.
Labour peer, Prem Sikka, wrote on X: “Solidarity with the seven. With big majority Starmer silencing debate, just as Tories did. Sooner or later the cap will go.”
He also told the Lords it was “disappointing” the cap still had not been abolished, and there was “no shortage of money”.
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He added on X: “Would the government find the money if a bank collapsed tomorrow? Poverty is a political choice.”
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Meanwhile, independent MPs – Jeremy Corbyn, Shockat Adam, Iqbal Mohamed, Adnan Hussain and Ayoub Khan – took the chance to write to the rebel MPs on Wednesday, thanking them for voting against the government on the cap.
“It is beyond disgraceful that you have been punished for voting to alleviate child poverty,” the letter said.
Rishi Sunak sparked a reaction from his parliamentary colleagues when he poked fun at himself in PMQs today.
The former prime minister sent good luck wishes to Team GB ahead of the Paris Olympics, saying: “I’ve no doubt that after years of training focus and dedication, they will bring back many gold medals.
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“Although – to be honest, I’m probably not the first person they’ll want to hear advice from on how to win.”
A wave of laughter followed, which soon descended into a chorus of “awh”s – and yet more laughter.
🚨 NEW: Rishi Sunak opens PMQs: \"Good luck olympians, although, to be honest, I’m probably not the first person they’d want to hear advice from on how to win\" pic.twitter.com/4lorkO81G7
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🚨 NEW: Rishi Sunak opens PMQs: “Good luck olympians, although, to be honest, I’m probably not the first person they’d want to hear advice from on how to win” pic.twitter.com/4lorkO81G7
Starmer also got quite the response from the Tory benches today – but his was significantly less sympathetic.
Pressed over the funds for the carer allowance, by the Lib Dem leader Ed Davey, Starmer said: “We have a more severe crisis than we thought as we go through the books of the last 14 years.
“We must review the challenges –”
Starmer broke off amid a roar of disapproval from the Conservative benches, before adding: “I know they don’t like it.
“There was a reason the electorate rejected them so profoundly.”
The PM added that Labour have found “failure” everywhere since getting into government.
Nigel Farage expressed surprise that this was a “Remainer” parliament in his maiden Commons speech today.
The Reform UK leader, who was elected to the Commons for the first time earlier this month after seven failed attempts, revived some old EU tensions.
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The famous Eurosceptic said: “I spent nearly 21 years as a member of the European Parliament in Brussels.
“I have to say, this place is very different indeed.
“It’s smaller, there is no chauffeur driven Mercedes available for each member, no large lump sums of money which you don’t have to spend on anything or show receipts for, and I wonder, perhaps that is why so many in the British political system love the European Union so much – it is a rather wonderful place to work.”
But, he added: “What I perhaps didn’t expect was to come here and find I am more outnumbered here with my Reform team than we were in the European Parliament.
“There are more supporters of Brexit in the European Parliament than I sense there are in this parliament of 2024.
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“This is very much a Remainers’ parliament, I suspect in many cases, it’s really a Rejoiners’ parliament.”
There are five Reform MPs in this parliament, having had just one before the election – Tory defector, Lee Anderson, moved to Farage’s party earlier this year.
Reform was previously known as the Brexit Party, and used to advocate for no-deal with the EU – the harshest version of Brexit possible.
The Brexit Party also won the most seats at the 2019 European Parliament election in the UK, but won no seats at the general election that year.
And now, eight years after the referendum and four years since the UK officially left the trade bloc of the EU, it seems more people would like to return to the European fold.
The barge, moored in Dorset right now, was meant to cut hotel bills by accommodating up to 500 adult men who came to the UK via small boat crossings as they waited for their cases to be heard.
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The Home Office confirmed today the contract – first announced by the Conservatives in March 2023 – will end from January 2025.
The new Labour government said it would cost more than £20m to renew the deal.
Scrapping the barge is part of the “government’s commitment to clear the backlog and fix the asylum system”, the Home Office said today.
The government has also claimed it is going to save £7.7bn of savings in asylum costs over the next decade by bringing in its own ideas to address the migrant crisis.
There are 400 people currently onboard the barge, which is one of three major asylum accommodation sites set up by the Tory government.
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Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said: “We are determined to restore order to the asylum system, so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly; and ensures the rules are properly enforced.
“The home secretary has set out plans to start clearing the asylum backlog and making savings on accommodation which is running up vast bills for the taxpayer.
“The Bibby Stockholm will continue to be in use until the contract expires in January 2025.”
The barge has been controversial, with campaigners, MPs and local communities pushing back on using it and protests even popping up in Portland.
The first group of asylum seekers boarded it in August 2023. Within four days, there was an outbreak of Legionella bacteria in its water system, meaning migrants had to be moved off the boat.
Labour has also overhauled the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme and instead wants to set up a new Border Security Command to stop people-smuggling gangs.
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The government is looking at deepening ties with European allies, too, and funding health and education projects abroad to prevent migrants leaving their home countries in the first place.
Dorset Council leader Nick Ireland said they had always opposed the barge being at Portland Port, and said the news was “welcome”.
The Green Party was also happy with news, saying: “The conditions there are as cruel as they are ineffective. it’s entirely inappropriate for people to be held in such vile conditions.
“Seeking asylum is a right that the UK should ensure is undertaken with dignity and appropriate levels of support.”
It also called for the government to close other detention centres like Yarl’s Wood.
The home secretary has claimed the Tories intended on spending £10 billion on the now-scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme.
In the Commons on Monday, Yvette Cooper said the full expense of the plan to send asylum seekers who arrive to the UK in small boats to Rwanda was not fully disclosed to parliament.
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The policy, which Labour dropped when it got into power earlier this month, has already cost the British taxpayer £700m over the last two and a half years, according to Cooper.
Cooper continued: “Those costs include £290m payments to Rwanda, chartering flights that never took off, detaining hundreds of people and then releasing them, and paying for more 1,000 civil servants to work on the scheme.
Cooper also said if the scheme had ever “got going” it would only cover a “minority” of arrivals and the taxpayer would still have to pay out “no matter how many people were relocated”.
The cabinet minister added: “Over the six years of the migration and economic development partnership forecast, the previous government had planned to spend over £10bn of taxpayers money on the scheme – they did not tell parliament that.”
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Cooper dubbed it a “costly con” which has been paid for by the taxpayer.
Keir Starmer: \"Let me be clear, there is no need to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights… not now, not ever… Britain belongs on the world stage.\" pic.twitter.com/58lWXA6Pmr
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Keir Starmer: “Let me be clear, there is no need to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights… not now, not ever… Britain belongs on the world stage.” pic.twitter.com/58lWXA6Pmr
Conservative mayor Lord Houchen called for “civility” in the upcoming Tory leadership contest, shortly after Suella Braverman’s made some eyebrow-raising comments about the party’s direction.
The former home secretary and current backbencher – who is expected to run as Conservative leader – criticised people who lean further to centre over the weekend.
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She told The Telegraph: “If we don’t recover the votes we deliberately, and arrogantly, spurned, we will turn the Conservative Party into the 21st Century version of the 20th Century Liberal Party.
“We can do better than being a collection of fanatical, irrelevant, centrist cranks, who make it our business to insult our should-be voters for not being as smug and self-righteous as we are.”
Asked what he made of these comments on Sky News on Sunday, Houchen said the Tory party leadership should not be based on the past, but the future.
He also there should not be any “blue-on-blue attacks”.
Houchen added: “If we want to spend the next two, three, four, five months fighting with each other that goes to the cause of the election defeat just two weeks ago.
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“And I would implore Suella, as well as every other leadership contender, to conduct this leadership contest with civility. Let’s come together and let’s offer a positive option to the country.”
He said voters “want a party that isn’t going to fight like cats in a sack”, adding that the electorate thought the Tories cared more about “in-fighting and positioning within the Conservative Party and within the government than caring about our country”.
The mayor suggested any future Tory leader needs to rule out working with Reform too, as they are a “symptom not a cause” of the problem.
But Braverman called for a deal with the populist party only a few weeks ago.
Speaking to GB Newsearlier this month, she said there was “only room for one Conservative Party on the right of British politics”.
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The backbencher said: “There’s very little I disagree with when it comes to Nigel Farage and I met thousands of people throughout this campaign, and many, many people said to me, I’m a lifelong Tory voter, but I’m going to vote Reform.”
“They are feeling betrayed. They feel let down. They feel politically homeless because of our failures,” she added.
“So we have to address the issue of Reform. I’m not really interested in the form of what that takes, but we need to find an accommodation with Reform, with Nigel Farage, so that we can take the fight to Labour and win the next election.”
Before the exchequer’s secretary James Murray was elected to parliament, he was the deputy mayor of London under Sadiq Khan.
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He held this role from 2016 to 2019 – meaning he was in office when his boss Khan allowed a six-metre high cartoon baby blimp of the then-US president to float across the capital.
It was part of a wider protest against the divisive politician’s first formal visit to the UK in 2018.
Phillips recalled the famous blimp on his programme this morning, asking Murray: “Do you now wish you hadn’t chosen to insult him in this way?”
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The minister replied: “Look there’s been a lot of history between the mayor and President Trump but what’s important for me is being a minister in the government is that we have a relationship with the US, which is an incredibly strong one, and one that’s in our national interests and good for our national security.”
Phillips hit back: “It’s quite tricky to have a good relationship with somebody when one of your colleague has described him as a neo-Nazi and your former boss called him literally a few weeks, a racist, a sexist and a homophobe.”
“Is that the way diplomacy these days under Labour?” Phillip asked.
Murray said: “In the past there have been comments on all sides of this relationship, but what it’s important for me is the strength of a relationship –”
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Phillips cut him off, saying: “The strength of a relationship with someone who called you a neo-Nazi is not going to be very strong, is it?”
He said the UK-US “transcends any individuals”, and “it’s in our interests in terms of national security and economy” to get along well.
Phillips pushed: “You understand why this is an issue, don’t you?”
He noted that Lammy is now calling Trump’s running mate JD Vance is his friend and that chancellor Rachel Reeves is talking about a trade deal with the US.
He said: “You’re all going to have change your tune aren’t you?”
Murray said Labour have “never” changed their tune in their approach to the US, and that it is up to American voters to choose their president.
A top Tory has been called out for interrupting a cabinet minister and heckling jim from the dispatch box.
Shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins, who is expected to run for the party leadership, had to be rebuked by the deputy speaker for her “abominable” behaviour in the Commons.
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On Friday afternoon, the new environment, food and rural affairs secretary Steve Reed began his first speech as a member of government by talking about the Labour’s plan to “get Britain building again”.
It was part of the parliamentary debate on the King’s Speech.
But, he was interrupted repeatedly by Tories – first by Tory backbencher and former party chair Richard Holden, who stood up to indicate he wanted to speak.
But Reed refused to give way, saying there was not enough time for Holden’s speech and that other “members should have spoken for less time” earlier in the three-hour debate.
Reed then attacked the Conservatives for neglected parts of the country.
The shadow housing, communities and local government secretary, Kemi Badenoch, who is also expected to try out for Tory leader, then attempted to cut in.
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But Reed said: “I am very sorry but there are only three minutes left and I need to cover the points that have been raised. They had their time.”
He resumed by talking about how Labour plans to increase the number of mental health professionals.
Atkins then jumped up and leant across the despatch box while shouting at Reed, seemingly irate.
The deputy speaker Sir Christopher Chope had to shout: “Order. The right honourable member for Louth and Horncastle [Atkins] has behaved abominably.”
According to The Guardian, a spokesperson for Atkins’ office said: “Conservative MPs were trying to get answers about their budgets for farming, flood defences and food security, which the minister ignored.
“She will always stand up fearlessly for farmers and our rural area in Westminster, even if that means a rare admonishment from the Chair.”
Reed wrapped up his speech by reeling off the “Tories’ failure”, calling his opponents “the party of broken dreams”.
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Closing the debate, Reed said: “After 14 years of chaos, there is once again hope for our environment, hope for our countryside and hope for our rural communities. I welcome the king’s speech, I recommend it to this house.”
Over the weekend, clips of this exchange were picked up by other MPs….
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This happened during my first experience of a debate in the chamber. The behaviour of several Conservative MPs was appalling. After the debate, I asked a group of them why they behaved that way. I was accused of rudeness myself for having the temerity to ask. Absolutely shocking. https://t.co/PuS57iyTqI
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Absolutely shocking. https://t.co/PuS57iyTqI— Max Wilkinson MP (@mpmwilko) July 20, 2024\n\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Max Wilkinson MP on Twitter / 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Mark Zuckerberg has praised former President Donald Trump’s reaction to his attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania rally last weekend.
The Meta CEO ― in a recent interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang ― recalled seeing the Republican presidential nominee get up after he was shot before pumping his right fist in the air, moments seen in widely-shared photos from the shooting that killed one rally attendee.
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Zuckerberg described the Trump rally scene, which featured an American flag waving in the sky, as “one of the most badass things” he’s seen in his life.
“On some level as an American, it’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy,” Zuckerberg said.
The Meta CEO, who once criticised Trump over his executive order on immigration back in 2017, hasn’t endorsed the Republican nominee or President Joe Biden as they look to win a second White House term in November.
“I’ve done some stuff personally in the past, I’m not planning on doing that this time,” said Zuckerberg, who noted that he’s not looking to back a presidential candidate in the election.
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Zuckerberg’s remarks arrive after fellow multi-billionaire and the richest person in the world Elon Muskendorsed Trump following his assassination attempt.
Musk has reportedly pledged to donate $45 million a month to America PAC, a political action committee working to elect Trump.
Zuckerberg, elsewhere in his interview with Chang, claimed users on Meta’s platforms “actually want” to see less political content and they hope to use the sites to “connect with people.”
Meta’s Instagram announced earlier this year that the platform wouldn’t “proactively recommend” political content from accounts users don’t follow.
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“I think you’re going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past,” Zuckerberg said.
Trump — whose Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack before being reinstated last year — has referred to Facebook as the “enemy of the people” and seemingly warned Zuckerberg he’d send him to prison if he were to return to the Oval Office.
Trump, in comments on TikTok, recently told Bloomberg Businessweek that he’s against banning the Chinese-owned platform as “you need competition” before blasting Facebook and Instagram.
“That’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg,” the former president said.
Biden, too, claimed he’s “never been a big Zuckerberg fan” back in 2020 and referred to the Meta CEO at the time as “a real problem.”
President Joe Biden sent a message on Friday: He’s not going anywhere.
Beset by poor polls, calls from within his own party to step aside and, as of Wednesday, even Covid-19, Biden said he was eager to return to campaigning.
“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone,” Biden said in a campaign statement.
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“The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win.”
The message appeared to be a rebuke to a growing number of rank-and-file Democrats who have said publicly they would like to see him step aside in favour of Vice President Kamala Harris or another Democrat at the top of the party’s presidential ticket.
Speculation had risen ahead of the weekend that Biden may be reconsidering his decision to stay in the race. Axios reported several unspecified “top Democrats” believed the pressure from within the party to step aside would keep rising and persuade Biden “as soon as this weekend” to quit.
That idea was quickly and publicly rejected by the White House.
“Wrong. Keep the faith,” posted White House spokesperson Andrew Bates on social media early on Friday in response to a story that Biden’s family had discussed an exit strategy for him. Bates had similarly described another account of exit preparations as “fan fiction.”
Still, despite the Biden camp’s public steadfastness, defections continued to grow to around 30 Democrats on Capitol Hill. Friday morning saw one of the most significant yet in Representative Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, California), a 15-term congresswoman who was one of Trump’s impeachment trial managers and the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Space, Science and Technology Committee.
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“As I am aware that you have been provided data indicating that you in all likelihood will lose the race for President, I will not go through it again,” Lofgren said in a public letter to Biden.
“Simply put, your candidacy is on a trajectory to lose the White House and potentially impact crucial House and Senate races down ballot. It is for these reasons that I urge you to step aside from our Party’s nomination to allow another Democratic candidate to compete against and beat Donald Trump in the November election.”
As one of the longest-serving Democrats in the House and an ally of former speaker Representative Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California), Lofgren has the respect of many members of the House Democratic caucus and could be influential in convincing others to publicly join her call.
There was already a small cavalcade of public defections from Biden on Friday morning. Representatives Jared Huffman (Democrat, California), Chuy García (Democrat, Illinois), Marc Veasey (Democrat, Texas) and Mark Pocan (Democrat, Wisconsin) issued a joint statement for Biden to step aside that said he had “lifted up, empowered, and prepared” younger Democratic leaders like Harris for this moment.
Representatives Greg Landsman (Democrat, Ohio) and Sean Casten (Democrat, Illinois) each issued their own statements on Friday calling for Biden to abandon his reelection bid. “There is too much on the line, and we have to be able to make that case to the American people about the change we need and the country we all deserve,” Landsman wrote.
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And on Thursday, The New York Times reported that Representative Jamie Raskin (Democrat, Maryland), another impeachment manager and the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, had written a letter to Biden earlier in the month to try to persuade him to drop out, comparing him to an effective but tired pitcher late in a tight baseball game.
“There is no shame in taking a well-deserved bow to the overflowing appreciation of the crowd when your arm is tired out, and there is real danger for the team in ignoring the statistics,” he wrote.
Biden also received more bad news in the form of an estimate from noted polling expert Nate Silver. In his newsletter, Silver said Biden was now polling 4 points behind Trump and had hit a new low in Silver’s election forecast model, with only a 26% chance of winning the Electoral College vote.
But even that estimate may be slightly optimistic, according to Silver.
“However, the model is designed to be cautious around party conventions: it’s shaving a little bit off Trump’s numbers and also hedging toward its pre-convention forecast. If Trump sustains these numbers, the forecast will continue to get worse for Biden,” he wrote.
