MPs and Disorder

24/01/2024

I was getting ready for Calm Classics when I saw the latest iteration of the Tory Wars. Simon Clarke, a former cabinet minister and Liz Truss supporter, was calling for Rishi Sunak to be replaced. I paused for a moment, recalling how a story like this, would have sent me into overdrive in my broadcast news days and then returned to the rather less stressful business of playing Puccini.

But once a news junkie, always a news junkie and I couldn’t stop thinking about the story. Senior Tories quickly rallied to criticise Simon Clarke - ‘profoundly self defeating’ was one comment, while David Davis called it  ‘silly’ and talked about ‘these people’ realising their ‘duty to the country’ being ‘greater than their personal leadership ambitions.’ 

In short, there seemed to be little support for the upheaval of another leadership contest so close to a general election. Perhaps lots of MPs were thinking about that political truism ‘divided parties lose elections’. But over the next few days, details emerged of deep disaffection with Rishi Sunak on the right of the party. It was Simon Clarke’s timing that they disagreed with.

Writing in the New Statesman magazine, David Gauke, a former Conservative cabinet minister, rationalised Simon Clarke’s actions by suggesting that this was about laying down a marker for who takes responsibility for an election defeat. Rishi, in this interpretation, is the scapegoat and presumably, his four predecessors share none of the blame.

It may be that this latest act of disloyalty is just a symptom of a party riven by divisions and in its dying throes. And that does make sense. But I can’t help wondering if politicians in general have got a taste for putting their personal preferences before party diktat?

Years of political upheaval, (most obviously, the rows over Brexit which infected all parties, even if the Tories had it worst) may have given MPs a more permanent taste for rebellion. Threatening to vote against your government or party line, is empowering, if crippling for progress. 

The current committee system in Parliament was established in 1979, amid concerns that there was an imbalance of power between the executive and MPs - with the executive having the upper hand. There has been significant evolution since then and the committees have become more vocal and powerful over time. They are supposed to work across party lines and therefore should be an important platform for MPs to critique the work of the government of the day - whichever party is in powere. And without wishing to get bogged down in a debate about their effectiveness (another time perhaps?) it seems this is no longer enough.   

Political wisdom would suggest if there were to be a new Labour government, its ranks would be filled with loyal new MPs grateful for their seats, who would do the leadership’s bidding. And certainly the Labour Party in opposition, appears to be a disciplined force right now, with its eye firmly on the goal of electoral victory. 

But I wonder how long any government of any stripe can count on that sort of party discipline? 

Jeremy Corbin was famously the most rebellious Labour MP when his party was in power under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. (He has been sitting as an independent since October 2020). Even among his fellow left wingers, he was something of an anomaly - but in the future, it’s easy to imagine large numbers of individual MP’s disagreeing with the government line on specific issues - benefit reform, immigration, defence spending etc. And doing so publicly. 

In the age of individualism, WhatsApp groups, oversharing and speaking your mind on social media, are MPs as used to venting as the rest of us? Party discipline, whoever’s in charge, may be harder than ever before.