Politics is a game of compromise. Labour MPs know that to get the bits they like, they might have to put up, possibly even publicly defend, the things they don’t.
But another government U-turn, this time on digital ID for right-to-work checks, has left them privately wondering if they should bother in future.
As one North East MP, elected for the first time in 2024, put it, Labour MPs now have “a choice between loyalty and dignity”.
Do they go out and defend a government policy in the media, in the Commons and to their constituents, or risk looking “daft” when Downing Street U-turns on it.
Another publicly loyal new MP said: “There’s no point defending anything remotely difficult the leadership announces, because it’s likely to be rowed back on. Whatever the merits of individual policy, we’re in a position where we can’t ever say for sure it’ll happen. Absolutely ridiculous.”