A SENIOR Labour MP has alleged that a Tory member was “physically pulled” into the voting lobby to back the Government in Wednesday’s key fracking vote.
It comes after the departure of Suella Braverman as home secretary.
Former Labour minister Bryant's allegations came after the Government won a vote in Parliament on fracking that it had earlier told Tory MPs it was treating as a confidence vote.
Labour’s motion was defeated by 230 votes to 326, majority 96, but the vote descended into chaos with Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing at some point asking to investigate the delay in the No lobby.
Speaking to Sky News, Chris Bryant claimed he witnessed chaos in Westminster as MPs were unaware of whether they would lose the whip for voting against the Government or not.
“There was a group including several Cabinet ministers who were basically shouting at them and at least one member was physically pulled through the door into the voting lobby,” the MP alleged. “Now that is completely out of order in our system.”
He went on: “I have never ever seen an individual member physically man handled into a division lobby. I know that Therese Coffey was in the group and Jacob Rees-Mogg was in the group and the group all moved forward with that member.”
He alleged that the MP in question who was "manhandled" was Alex Stafford. Stafford has since argued that he was simply having a "frank and robust" conversation with ministers on his views on fracking.
Bryant added: “We’re meant to be opposed to – we’re meant to be a house that is completely opposed to bullying and harassment.”
He later shared a photo alleging to show the chaotic scenes in Westminster.
According to Sky News, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle is waiting for a report from Eleanor Laing about what happened, and has seen the photo shared by Bryant.
Later, Bryant made a point of order in the Commons calling for an investigation into the scenes.
Another MP, Anna McMorrin, also alleged witnessing “manhandling” in the lobby.
“Extraordinary stuff happening here during the vote on fracking which is apparently ‘not a confidence vote’,” she tweeted. “I’ve just witnessed one Tory member into the lobby to vote against our motion to continue the ban on fracking.”
David Linden, SNP MP for Glasgow East, tweeted that he had “just watched the Deputy Prime Minister practically pick up a hesitant Tory MP and march him into the Government lobby” and added that it was “Astonishing”.
Meanwhile Labour MP Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray said he witnessed “whips screaming at Tories” and described it as “open warfare”.
There was additional confusion after the vote was announced, as the numbers announced in the Chamber did not match the numbers on the division list released by the Commons authorities.
The list released after the Commons vote contained 228 names in the ayes and 316 names in the noes. It may be updated further by parliamentary officials to include any missing names to ensure the numbers match the ones announced in the chamber, or it could be a counting error by the whips.
The division list showed 39 Conservative MPs did not take part in the fracking vote, although this does not automatically equate to an abstention.
Speaking to Sky News following the vote, Business Secretary Rees-Mogg said confusion arose over whether the Commons vote on fracking was a confidence vote because of a message sent by a “junior official in 10 Downing Street”, suggesting they did not have the authority to do so.
Asked whether the Government “blinked” and U-turned on the confidence vote over fears of losing it, he told Sky News: “I don’t think that’s a fair way of looking at it. I think what happened was that, late in the day, a junior official at 10 Downing Street sent a message through to the front bench that it was not a vote of confidence and nobody else was aware of that.
“The whips were not aware of that, I was not aware of that and most members thought that it was a vote of confidence.
“It was simply one of those unfortunate miscommunications that occasionally happens.”
But there was anger among Tories as reports emerged of "bullying".
Describing events in the House of Commons, Conservative backbencher Sir Charles Walker told the BBC: “I’ve really not seen anything like tonight.
“What I understand is that we were on a confidence vote, which means if you voted against your government, you’d lose the whip because in essence, you were saying you had no confidence in the Government.
“Then at the despatch box, in the wind-up, the minister said it wasn’t a confidence vote, which created chaos in the division lobbies. There was then a sort of 20-minute delay between the vote happening and the result being announced, which by the way, wasn’t even close. The Government won it by nearly 100 votes. But I just think the whole thing is extraordinary. And somewhere in between this, the vote being called and the result being announced the chief whip resigned.
“But I just think the whole thing is extraordinary.”
He said he is leaving Parliament at the next General Election voluntarily, adding: “Unless we get our act together and behave like grown-ups, I’m afraid many hundreds of my colleagues, perhaps 200, will be leaving at the behest of their electorate.”
