Government chief whip Alan Campbell, the PM’s Luca Brasi, was given the green light to personally tell Rachael Maskell, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchcliff and Neil Duncan-Jordan that they were being suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to suspend four MPs, saying Labour has to "deal with" those who defy party orders. The prime minister argued the MPs were "elected on a Labour manifesto" and so should back the government's agenda.