Labour MPs agonising over whether to support Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal have had two pieces of good news of late. Many of them have sailed through their trigger ballots and are now secure as Labour candidates for the next general election. Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, has privately assured them that they will not lose the whip if they vote with the government tomorrow.
Both add up to a licence to rebel. Winning reselection means one’s local party has next to no recourse to consequential punishment if one votes for a deal. Indeed, in many cases they have opted not to trigger MPs in the full knowledge that they might back Johnson. And the leadership’s aversion to deploying the nuclear option of parliamentary discipline – withdrawing the whip – means they are doubly safe ahead of a general election.
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