The news that Labour Brexiteers Kate Hoey and Frank Field are both facing deselection threats for rebelling on a crunch Brexit vote has been met with notable silence from many Labour moderates. After the pair voted with the Tories on a crucial customs amendment which the government won by just five votes, they have both lost ‘confidence’ votes in their local parties. The no-confidence vote does not mean any imminent action but constituency party members could now seek a trigger ballot with the potential to deselect the sitting MP.
Hoey and Field’s sin isn’t just that they broke with official Labour Brexit policy – there are plenty of Corbynistas who can be classed as eurosceptic. Instead, it’s that they helped Theresa May get to the summer recess – the expectation was that if the government had lost that vote there could have been an early election or at the very least dire (in contrast to the current ‘very bad’) times for the Tories.
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