Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff, Brian Leishman and Rachael Maskell are last of series of penalised backbenchers to return to the party
Four Labour MPs who lost the party whip in July for being “persistent rebels” have had the sanction removed, the last of a series of penalised backbenchers to be allowed back into the fold.
Neil Duncan-Jordan, Chris Hinchliff, Brian Leishman and Rachael Maskell spoke to the party’s chief whip, Jonathan Reynolds, and were allowed to hold the whip again after a review of how they had behaved since the suspension, it is understood.
The decision to strip the four of the whip came as a surprise and dismayed a number of their colleagues, who saw it as a heavy-handed attempt by Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation to impose discipline following a humiliating government climbdown on welfare reform the month before.
All four MPs had been openly critical of several government policies. Maskell, the York Central MP, and Duncan-Jordan, who represents Poole, had spearheaded opposition to the cut to the winter fuel allowance and welfare reforms.
