The UK Parliament—supposedly the “mother” of all parliaments—last night descended into total chaos during a debate on Gaza, the details of which will have no bearing neither on Britain nor the Middle East.
As debates on Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, uncontrolled borders and woeful defence capabilities quietly rumble on, politicians are spending more and more time considering how to instruct Israel in its fight against Hamas. Their latest squabble over wording ignored the fact that various calls for “an immediate ceasefire,” “an immediate stop to the fighting and a ceasefire that lasts and is observed by all sides” or even “negotiations to agree a … pause” would all have an equal—that is, nonexistent—impact on Israel. Not to mention Hamas, which has vowed to repeat its October 7th terror attacks “again and again,” even if British politicians ask it not to.
That didn’t stop the debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday night from descending to scenes reminiscent of university ‘politics’:
- Tory MPs boycotted proceedings and, in a rare display of unity, joined Scottish Nationalists in walking out.
- Members considered sitting “in private,” which would have seen the press and public galleries cleared and the official parliamentary report scrapped—an incredibly rare move in peacetime, not deployed since 2001 when Parliament debated the Anti Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill.
- The deputy speaker was heckled countless times; “the roaring,” noted the parliamentary sketch writer for The Times, “seemed to come from a wholly new sound stage I had never heard before.”
- And the House’s primary speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was told he would need to convince MPs his position was “not now intolerable.” 59 MPs had signed a ‘motion of no confidence’ in Hoyle by midday on Thursday, despite his emotional apology the night before, effectively calling for him to resign.
Reporters say this scale of chaos “may never have been seen before” in the Commons, at least not for quite some time.
It all started with Speaker Hoyle breaking parliamentary procedure and overruling the advice of his own clerks to allow a vote on a Labour amendment to an SNP motion to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Tories say he did this to help Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer avoid another parliamentary humiliation, as his own MPs were expected to ignore his wishes and vote for the motion introduced by the SNP on its own ‘opposition day’ accusing Israel of breaking international law. The fact Hoyle was a Labour MP for almost two decades before becoming speaker did not help his argument that his decision was unbiased.
Labour’s amendment ultimately passed “on the nod”—without being voted on.
It has since emerged that Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer “intervene[d] personally” ahead of the debate, warning the Speaker that Labour MPs’ security would be at risk if his amendment was not put to the house. Citing sources close to the meeting, The Guardian reported:
Many had been deluged by criticisms, threats and abuse since abstaining on a similar SNP motion in November. With hundreds of protesters congregating outside Parliament, they worried worse might be to come.
The extremist slogan “from the river to the sea,” demanding Israel’s erasure from the map, was projected on Parliament’s exterior while MPs argued inside.
Labour MPs have been receiving death threats from pro-Palestine activists for months for ‘not going far enough’ in their criticism of Israel. The party more broadly has been tearing itself apart over the issue, with many of its Muslim representatives and supporters airing their frustration at the official Labour stance. Tory MP Sir Charles Walker commented last night that “this is a far bigger issue than the debate we’re having tonight.”
Whips are frightened for their flocks because Members of Parliament now feel that they have to vote in a certain way to safeguard their safety and the safety of their family.
Tory MP Andrew Percy also said in the Commons today that if there is a re-run of the debate, “members will not vote with their hearts because they are frightened and they are scared. And what do we expect? For months I have been standing up here talking about the people on our streets demanding death to Jews, demanding jihad, demanding Intifadas as the police stand by and allow that to happen.”
Musician-turned-political commentator Winston Marshall added that the threat to MPs was fresh evidence of “Britain’s Islamist problem,” claiming that “Britain is being bullied.” Ironically, former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick joined in with the criticism of the fact that “we have allowed our streets to be dominated by Islamist extremists.”
The whole affair is also just the latest in a long list of signs that this parliament is completely spent. Unfortunately, there is no indication that a major Labour victory at the next election will make matters better—quite the opposite, in fact.
