The SNP has called for “a full, independent investigation” into new revelations that prove Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party deliberately sought to wreck the SNP motion on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
It follows a Channel 4 News interview with Chris Bryant MP last night, in which the frontbench Labour Party MP admitted he was ordered to filibuster to block progress on the SNP’s motion for immediate ceasefire – and accepted “we brought ourselves terribly into disrepute”.
Asked by Cathy Newman whether he was “put up” to filibuster the debate, or took it upon himself to do so, Bryant admitted “a bit of both if I’m honest.
I think the whole day was grubby, and we need a system that doesn’t allow people to manipulate the rules to be able to get what they want” before laughing when asked if he manipulated the rules to get his own way.
It follows a series of damning revelations over the weekend, including that Keir Starmer used the time afforded by his party’s filibuster attempts to ‘barge his way in’ uninvited into an unprompted meeting with the Speaker shortly before he broke parliamentary rules, going against the advice of his Clerks, to benefit the Labour Party leader.
According to the Sunday Times, the Speaker ‘kicked out’ clerks from the Reasons Room in order to speak to Starmer privately ahead of the vote, with Labour MPs gathered behind the Speaker’s chair talking loudly of how “Keir is going to fix the Speaker” and Labour whip Chris Elmore telling MPs to “use every procedural measure possible to delay”.
The Sunday Times reports Starmer ’emerged smiling’ following the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday reported that Sue Gray, Starmer’s unelected Chief of Staff, was “lurking near the Reasons Room when Starmer “barged his way in” uninvited.
In an interview with the BBC last week, Starmer refused to answer three times whether his MPs had threatened the Seeker after senior Labour Party sources told BBC journalist Nick Watt “the Speaker was left in no doubt that Labour would bring him down after the general election unless he called Labour’s Gaza amendment”.
Commenting, Kirsty Blackman MP said:
”These damning revelations show Sir Keir Starmer pulled every dirty trick in the Westminster book to wreck the SNP’s vote on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
“After months of opposing an immediate ceasefire, and even defending Israel’s right to withhold water and power from Gaza, it’s shameful that Starmer sought to derail this important debate – with his party filibustering, bullying the Speaker, and seeking to water down the motion by removing any mention of the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.
“Starmer’s party has been caught red handed following the admission by Chris Bryant.
“There must now be a full, independent investigation into the appalling behaviour of Keir Starmer and his colleagues, who are no better than the Tories when it comes to manipulating the broken Westminster system.
“The SNP will continue to press the UK government to call for an immediate ceasefire and take concrete steps to secure one.
“If Starmer is serious about securing a ceasefire, he should stop working against our efforts and, instead, work with us to change the UK government’s position.”
