Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of losing control of his party after failing to suspend more than a dozen Labour rebels who backed a sleaze investigation into the prime minister.
The Labour leader had ordered his MPs to vote down an inquiry into claims he misled parliament over the scandal of Peter Mandelson’s failed security vetting that has threatened to end his premiership.
But in a challenge to the prime minister, 15 Labour MPs, mostly from the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group within the party, voted for an investigation.
However, the PM faced more questions over his authority after none had the whip removed.
It comes on the same day Sir Keir failed to give his backing to Rachel Reeves at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, following reports his chancellor and key ally could be sacked in an upcoming reshuffle.
One rebel told The Independent: “We haven’t been contacted [by the whip]. My guess is they may just want to move on.”
They added: “I think it would elongate a damaging story or focus for them and ‘Starmer punishes MPs for saying he should answer questions’ isn’t a good look for a man who says he has nothing to hide.”
Asked if the prime minister had lost control, one senior backbencher said yes. Another Labour MP said: “He is just not in a strong enough position to start suspending large numbers of MPs.”
“Starmer is locked in the boot of a [Labour] car nobody is driving,” said a third backbencher, adding: “He’s run out of credit. He ran out months ago. Nobody wants to follow him – it’s just who replaces him.”
However, there was speculation among others that Sir Keir wanted to avoid fuelling the Mandelson scandal story further and “will wait until the summer to take action against [the rebels]”.
With previous rebellions, including during the row over the two-child benefit cap and welfare reform, the PM suspended rebels from his parliamentary party.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, blasted him as a “man who is not in control” during a fiery PMQs.
Ms Badenoch claimed that she saw the PM “punch the speaker’s chair” following a heated conversation with Sir Lindsay Hoyle earlier this month.
“This is not a man who is in control,” she said, before accusing Sir Keir of “broken promises on taxes, U-turn after U-turn after U-turn”.
She also claimed the “only thing that’s grown” since the prime minister took office in July 2024 was the welfare bill.
Sir Keir was forced to give in to welfare rebels on his own benches last year, in a bid to head off a damaging revolt that the government feared it could lose. The move meant dropping plans to save £5bn from the welfare bill.
Last July, Sir Keir suspended four MPs over repeated breaches of party discipline: Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell, all of whom had voted against the government’s welfare reform bill. The previous July, he suspended seven MPs from Labour over a rebellion supporting an amendment to scrap the controversial two-child benefit limit.
However, there is already speculation that former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, energy secretary Ed Miliband or health secretary Wes Streeting are lining up to take over as leader after the elections on 7 May.
One MP told The Independent: “The next two weeks are going to be crucial. If the prime minister can get to the end of May then he will probably lead us to the next election, but that is a big if.”
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