Decimate is a much misused word. Its origins lie in Roman military discipline, where after a mutiny, one in every ten men would be executed. In Dr. Johnson's dictionary, he defined the word as “to tithe; to take a tenth”. There is no implication of the wider massacre that the word is commonly used to mean today.
It is, therefore, in its early meaning of the small, symbolic, disciplinary measure that Sir Keir Starmer has decided to punish Labour rebels. Not one-tenth of his parliamentary party, but enough to encourage the others. Yet it is a sign of weakness, not strength. It makes martyrs of those who have been removed and indicates that Starmer is not winning the argument or managing the House of Commons well.
A parliamentary majority is a peculiar thing. Ostensibly, a government with a large majority can do what it likes. This is the elected dictatorship that Lord Hailsham warned about in the 1970s, and which may possibly have existed in the 1950s, when rebellions were infrequent. But Members of Parliament are not automatons, lobby fodder, who will simply vote as they are told day after day.
Each Member will ask himself a number of questions on each division. First, does this matter? If it is routine or unimportant, most people will back their party. Second, is it in the interests of my constituents, and if not, does the national good outweigh the local harm? Third, is it in accordance with the manifesto, and if it contradicts it, is there a good reason for doing so? Not everything promised in 2024 will still be relevant in 2027, let alone in 2029. Fourth, is it in accordance with my core beliefs as a member of this party, or is my leadership letting the side down?
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