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A heated row between a government whip and backbench Labour MP over a Gaza vote earlier this month forced parliamentary doorkeepers to intervene.
On 4 June, a small number of MPs voted on a Ten Minute Rule Bill, brought forward by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an Independent, calling for an inquiry into UK involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Labour MPs who were in the House of Commons to hear Corbyn’s speech voted the Bill through.
A majority of Labour MPs ignored the vote as they did not want to be associated with Corbyn or his Independent Alliance.
While the Bill is very unlikely to become law, the vote highlighted divisions within Labour over the government’s approach to Israel and its conduct in Gaza.
PoliticsHome can reveal that following the vote, according to several sources, whip Chris Elmore and Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby, Andy McDonald, were involved in a heated exchange of words in the House of Commons over McDonald’s support for the Bill.
Witnesses said Elmore, the MP for Bridgend, was “glaring” at Labour MPs who had supported Corbyn’s Bill, and after the vote, approached McDonald in the chamber and asked him whether backing it would actually help anyone in Gaza.
A heated back-and-forth followed, prompting a parliamentary doorkeeper to ask the pair to move their argument outside the House of Commons. One witness claimed that the two MPs pushed past each other. Parliamentary authorities declined to comment.
An MP present told PoliticsHome: “One of the whips was clearly upset and lost their composure. It was neither professional nor appropriate.”
McDonald and Elmore were contacted for comment.
