Keir Starmer and Morgan McSweeney's 'Punishment Beatings' of the Labour Left

A rebel Labour MP speaks out about the 'end of days' feeling gripping Keir Starmer's party as the Prime Minister's advisers enact a campaign of revenge against their left flank

“You have to assume that at some point something's going to be cooked up about you - some sort of smear - or there will be another vote, and then they will suspend you.”

I’m speaking to a Labour MP who voted against the Government’s recent disability benefit cuts and now fears they will be the next victim of what they describe as the “punishment beatings” currently being dished out to Labour MPs

“I’m on a hair trigger. I know that”.

“And you can go around worrying about it, but I think there's a sense now that it's going to happen, and it probably doesn't really make much of a difference what I do.”

“Either I’m going to come out of the room dead, or a made man. You just have to assume that. It’s the only way, psychologically, that you can continue to operate.”

We’re speaking after Starmer, under the advice of Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney, green-lit the suspension of four more Labour MPs for their roles in recent parliamentary rebellions.

The suspensions, which included the well-liked moderate soft-left MP Rachael Maskell, have been a clarifying moment for many in the party.

“I think when it was only happening to the hard left, most MPs thought ‘oh it’s fine, it's not my problem’.

“But now with what they did to Rachael, the soft left are beginning to realise what’s really going on here.”