Labour gambled last night when they engineered a division in the House of Commons over the Privileges Committee report but, thanks to a handful of Boris Johnson supporters, their bet paid off.
The plan was always to use the report as a mechanism to highlight the divisions within the Conservative Party between those who support the former Prime Minister and those who, for want of a better word, despise him.
But in doing so, they risked breaking Commons rules in Erskine May by shouting out “no” when they meant “aye” just to force the vote.
Mr Johnson had urged his supporters to “not engage” and to abstain which should have meant the vote was carried without a formal division.
But Labour was having none of that.
READ MORE: Forcing a vote on Boris’s fate tonight could backfire horribly on Labour
Labour’s chief whip Alan Campbell positioned himself by the Speaker’s chair and shouted “no!” when the Speaker asked the question on supporting the report.
That was what appeared to have triggered the division.
At that point, all the Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs trotted through the aye lobby in support of the report and Mr Campbell along with another Labour MP was forced to be a teller (vote counter) along with another Labour whip for the “no” side even though he supported the report.
It would, though, have looked odd if nobody else walked through.
But along came six Conservative MPs including veteran Brexiter Sir William Cash along with Joy Morrisey (MP for Beaconsfield), Karl McCartney (MP for Lincoln), Adam Holloway (MP for Gravesham), Heather Wheeler (MP for South Derbyshire), and Nick Fletcher (MP for Don Valley).
One Tory MP said: “They gave the vote credibility, it feels like we missed an open goal to prove that Labour was playing games.”
Another used quite a colourful historical metaphor to explain the mistake likening it to the Battle of Hastings.
They said: “To win all the Anglosaxons had to do was hold their discipline and not break the shield wall. But William the Conquerer provoked a few to charge, the defences broke and King Harold got one in the eye.
“Same happened last night, a few colleagues voted and Boris got one in the eye instead, unfortunately.”
But while the clever games were being played by both sides not all supporters of Mr Johnson were happy with the whipping operation to abstain.
One Red Wall MP told Express.co.uk that they did not vote solely because others were asking them not to make them look bad.
The MP added: “When I was called and told I had to abstain, my response was ‘you have got to lay off, this is supposed to be a free vote, I will do what I want’.”
Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former Leader of the House, was relaxed about Labour’s tactics.
He said: “It happens a lot, often by the Government.”
