‘Lose-lose situation’ for Labour MPs in disciplinary vote, warns former Attorney General

Former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis has said whipping Labour MPs to support the prime minister is the act of a “desperado”.

Speaking on GB News, Sir Michael said: “It’s a complete cover-up. Honestly, it’s a disgrace. Boris Johnson, when he was at the height of his troubles, allowed a free vote on his discipline. The Tory party, the government of the day, allowed a free vote.

“Here is the Prime Minister. The only thing he’s been transparent about is a transparent cover-up, because that’s exactly what this is. It’s totally improper. Even the left wing has said for years how business of the House motions, the procedures of the House should not be party to a political whip.

“And here he is openly and transparently bragging about the fact that he’s about to order his MPs to vote for him. Any of your viewers, if they ever face disciplinary matters at work, there’s no political vote, well, do you like that person or not? They have to go through a proper procedure.

“Here in the House of Commons, he’s defiling the process of the House by politicising what should be a disciplinary vote.

“If anything was a stunt, it was the Partygate stuff. [Boris Johnson] ate a piece of cake, allegedly, during the course of some small gathering for a leaving staff member and that was a political stunt.

“This is serious; this is a national security matter. How can anyone say that this is a stunt when this is about serious issues.”

He added: “It’s real. This is serious stuff. The House of Commons’ reputation is at stake.

“This is a kangaroo arrangement. I’m afraid the Prime Minister is compounding error after error after error. He keeps making these mistakes. He has no political nous at all, and here he is now directing his MPs to vote by the hundreds for him in a disciplinary matter, rather than give them a free vote and see what happens.

“You have to say that if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. And Keir Starmer, the sanctimony. He was so sanctimonious. He was so holier than thou. He portrayed himself as the Archangel Gabriel the whole time when Boris Johnson and others were prime minister and he was leader of the opposition.

“Now look at the state of his government after less than two years, and it’s because he does things like this, whipping a vote. They couldn’t even get prorogation right. He tried to weasel out of another PMQs on Wednesday, got that wrong.

“And now he’s going to have to answer to the House of Commons and Kemi Badenoch as well, who, by the way, is doing a stellar job holding him to account.

“Tactically, if he had any political nous, he should have gone for a free vote and said, ‘Well, this is how people have supported me’.

“Instead, it’s the act of a desperado. It’s basically saying, we’re going to need to order our troops in to support me otherwise, I’m curtains.

“It’s a lose-lose situation for Labour MPs. Because if they, if they vote against him, now they’re breaking their whip, and they’re disobedient to his orders. And when they vote to support him, that’s not going to look good for them in their constituencies, because the general public are wise to what they’re up to.

“I think it’s make or break time for him. There’s no doubt about it. The reality is for the Prime Minister now to be in this position where he’s already in significant trouble, both at home, abroad with his international relations basically being in the doldrums. Now, he’s facing these disciplinary proceedings, and he’s using these dodgy arrangements to try and force his way through them.

“I think it’s pretty dire for him, and whether he can survive the month of May, I think is questionable.”