The restoration of the Labour whip to Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan may, for the MP himself, prove to be a pyrrhic victory.
The decision to suspend him and three colleagues was a heavy-handed move by Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation, intended to impose discipline after a humiliating government climbdown on welfare reform. While the whip has now been returned, the episode has come at a significant personal and potential electoral cost.
Duncan-Jordan, a party man for 40 years, expressed his relief to the PA news agency: “I’ve been part of the Labour and trade union movement for 40 years, so I’m pleased to have had the Labour whip restored today,” he said. “I’ll continue working hard for my constituents in Poole and standing up for Labour values – tackling poverty, raising living standards and building a fairer society.”
However, the damage may already be done. Having been publicly marked out as a rebel, his influence within the parliamentary party is likely diminished. Furthermore, with Labour’s poll ratings slumping since the election, his return to the party fold may ironically make his path to re-election more difficult. As an independent candidate, freed from the burden of a deeply unpopular national brand, he could have potentially leveraged his local reputation to distance himself from a troubled government. Instead, he has chosen to tie his fate directly to it.
The victory of reinstatement, therefore, comes at the price of his political capital and potentially his electoral independence. He is back in the room, but now shackled to a party whose declining fortunes may sink his own chances of retaining his seat.
