Four MPs lose Labour whip as PM attempts to reassert grip on party

Keir Starmer moved to reassert his grip on the Labour party yesterday by removing the whip from four backbenchers for repeatedly breaching discipline.

- Eleni Courea Jessica Elgot

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Rachael Maskell, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff were told yesterday afternoon that they had lost the party whip. A Labour source told the Guardian the whip was being removed from "persistent rebels", while a further three Labour MPs were stripped of their government trade envoy roles.

The surprise move, which came in the wake of Downing Street's pledge to mend relations with the Labour backbenches after being forced to U-turn over controversial welfare cuts, triggered fury in sections of the parliamentary party.

The four MPs who were suspended have criticised several government policies. Maskell and Duncan-Jordan led opposition to the cut to the winter fuel allowance and welfare changes. Hinchliff organised a rebellion over the flagship planning bill, voicing concerns about its effect on nature. The three MPs who lost trade envoy roles were Rosena Allin-Khan, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Mohammad Yasin.

The decision was met with dismay from Labour backbenchers, who said No 10 had "learned nothing" from the rebellion against its welfare bill, in which 47 Labour MPs ultimately defied the whip despite the major concessions made by ministers. The prime minister was accused of being aloof and disconnected from his MPs' concerns following the row.

One MP on the Labour left said those suspended had been told they faced an inquiry lasting a few months and that the decision had come from Downing Street. The MP said the move was intended to create a "climate of fear" in the parliamentary party and made the government look "brittle". "What those MPs did, what we all did, was to defend Labour values," they said.