Investigation launched into parliament disorder where MPs were ‘manhandled’ – as 15 Tories call for Truss to go
An investigation has been launched into the chaotic scenes in the House of Commons where Tory MPs were accused of “manhandling” their colleagues into voting.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle announced he has asked the Serjeant at Arms and other officials to investigate allegations made about incidents in the Commons on Wednesday night.
He will be meeting with senior party representatives “to seek an agreed position that behaviour like that described last night is not acceptable in all circumstances”.
In a statement to MPs, he said: “I remind Members that the behaviour code applies to them as well as to other members of our parliamentary community.”
The Speaker, who is in charge of ensuring order in the Commons, added that while MPs might have “very strong political disagreements” they must “treat each other courteously and with respect”.
His announcement came as confusion reigned over what happened ahead of an opposition day vote on fracking.
After the incident, the number of Tory MPs publicly calling for Ms Truss to go ramped up, with 14 in total by mid-morning on Thursday – more than double than the day before.
Many were upset about Wednesday night’s events and also the resignation of Suella Braverman as home secretary, with questions over why exactly she quit after she said she had sent a sensitive message from her personal email.
Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan earlier said she was “shocked” to hear what happened during the vote.
She said she voted early so was not there when the chaos ensued but told Sky News’ Kay Burley at Breakfast programme: “It is never acceptable for people to be manhandled or bullied into voting.
“We have seen this happen before where whips perhaps over-egg their encouragement to get people to vote in the appropriate way. That is never right.
“The one thing that our parliament is so revered for around the world is that we allow each of us to vote with our conscience and indeed with our government on important matters.”
Read more: What caused ‘manhandling’ and ‘jabbing at people’ during Commons fracking vote?
Chaos ensued during the vote on Wednesday night
Credit:Chris Bryant
There was confusion just moments before voting started on Labour’s opposition day vote to ban fracking after MPs were told it was no longer a “vote of confidence in the government” – which the whips had said it was earlier in the day and told all Tory MPs they had to vote against the motion or face being suspended.
In the early hours of this morning, Downing Street sent a message to journalists saying a minister had been told “mistakenly” by them to say the vote was not a confidence vote, but they said Tory MPs were “fully aware” the vote was subject to a three line whip – where they can be suspended if they do not vote with the government.
But asked this morning if it was a confidence vote, Ms Trevelyan said: “No, yesterday was an opposition day debate and the Labour Party were trying to use a parliamentary tool to try and hijack the order paper. That is never acceptable.
“So what it was, was a very important vote to ensure that the government did not allow Labour to do that. It’s a tactic that has been used in the past. And previous governments have also always made sure that those votes are not won by the opposition.”
She added that those MPs who defied the whip will have discussions with the chief whips, but said there are often “specific constituency reasons or health reasons” for not voting with the government.
Labour MP Chris Bryant took a photo of a huddle of Tory MPs in the lobby looking confused.
He told Sky News: “There was a lot of shouting, there was a lot of speculating, pointing at people, jabbing at people, standing up to whips, squaring up to people.
“And then in a moment, maybe one or two MPs were effectively sort of frog marched through into the division lobby.
“It’s perfectly legitimate for the whips to try and persuade their members by force of reason to vote with them. But it’s not on to intimidate and bully.”
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World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
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Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
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