Labour frontbencher warned by party he'd be sacked over Gaza stance

Imran Hussain is the first Labour MP to resign from the front bench, over the party's stance on the conflict in the Middle East.

ITV News understands that 17 more front benchers are backing the calls for a ceasefire, as Political Correspondent Shehab Khan reports.

Labour MP Imran Hussain, before resigning from the front bench at 11.17pm on Tuesday evening, was essentially told he'd be sacked if he signed a House of Commons motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

He opted to sign the early day motion and jumped before he was pushed.

The threat to sack the MP for Bradford East as shadow minister for the new deal for working people is a firming up of the Labour’s leadership's opposition to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Mr Hussain had previously been allowed to sign a ceasefire motion – so this is an indication that the party will be stricter going forward.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer recently outlined his stance and reasoning for the current Gaza policy in a speech at Chatham House and frontbenchers are now expected to be supportive of his position - something which will be monitored more strictly going forward.

This is particularly noteworthy as so far roughly 18 Labour front benchers have called for a ceasefire and not faced any sort of reprimand from the party.

From now onwards, I understand, Labour will be closely monitoring those who sit on the front bench.

Sir Keir's team had long suspected there would be resignations and they have been pre-warned for weeks that a handful of shadow ministers could go.

Mr Hussain is arguably the least surprising person on the list of names I’ve seen of those who may potentially resign.

He backed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, is politically close to the left of the party and a member of the socialist campaign group.

One source close to the Labour leadership told me there was sense of inevitability about his decision.

“Fair to say Imran was following socialist campaign group, rather than those pushing party on mainstream voices in the party that have built a coalition on calling for a ceasefire," they said.

But it is the implications of his resignation which has sent alarm bells in Labour MPs’ offices around Westminster.

I’m told there are half a dozen frontbenchers on resignation watch, one of whom had previously told me they wouldn’t step down unless others did first.

“I won’t resign because it would add pressure on my colleagues to go who may not want to but will have to if I step down. I don’t want to make things more difficult for them, so I will wait and see if others go first," said one.

This line of reasoning is something I've heard from multiple Labour shadow minsters and Mr Hussain’s decision inevitably puts pressure on them to now go.

They will wonder if simply supporting a ceasefire will now be viewed as enough by their constituents, given one of their colleagues has been willing to resign.

As per my report last week, Labour MPs are telling us they are getting thousands of angry emails from constituents who say they can’t vote for Labour because of this.

While one Labour MP told me they think the resignations will now fall “like a set of dominos” another Labour source said they were sure no one else would follow.

As ever, making predictions in the world of politics is a fool’s game.

Labour is of course ahead in the opinions polls and as is stands, could be around a year away from getting into power.

Stepping down now would give up ministerial jobs that many have waited years for.

As one Labour MP put it to me; several shadow ministers will now need to calculate whether they are better off inside the tent trying to influence policy, or outside the tent where they can publicly be more honest about where they stand.

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