Will a purge help Starmer squelch his rebels?

Keir Starmer has tried to assert his waning authority by expelling four MPs from the Labour Party for "persistent breaches of party discipline".

Losing the party whip means the dismissed MPs will sit as independents in the House of Commons and will not be able to run as Labour candidates in the next election. The four are Rachael Maskell, who has been an MP for more than a decade, and Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchcliff, who are newly elected. Three more Labour MPs were sacked from unpaid trade envoy roles. They "all appear to be surprised – and upset", said Sky News' political correspondent Tamara Cohen.

What did the commentators say?

One Labour MP on the left of the party asked: "So, we're suspending people for winning an argument with the government?". Starmer is hoping to deter future rebels and recover his authority after a series of embarrassing policy U-turns and concessions to the 127 MPs who threatened to oppose the government's benefits reform bill. But while some MPs could be deterred from defying the party leadership, for those whose chances of re-election are slight, "it may continue to be seen as a price worth paying".

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There are "two unflattering historical comparisons" being mentioned among MPs, said George Eaton in The New Statesman. The first is with Tony Blair, who tolerated repeated rebellions from Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, among others on the far left. "Both Blair and [Gordon] Brown were relaxed because they were always confident that they could win the argument and didn't need threats," McDonnell, who lost the Labour whip last July, told the magazine.

The second is with Dominic Cummings, who influenced Boris Johnson to rely on the tactic of removing the whip from rebels during Brexit negotiations. But his "ruthlessness" in pursuit of a Brexit deal nonetheless served a "clear purpose". For Starmer – "after multiple U-turns" – the challenge is that "even sympathisers remain uncertain what his is".

The PM's critics say that he has become detached from MPs while grandstanding on the world stage. His entourage has tried to remedy the situation via a "charm offensive" intended "to mend the broken bridges between his No. 10 team and the parliamentary party", said James Heale in The Spectator.

But that "softly softly approach" is at odds with the recent sackings, said the BBC's political editor, Chris Mason. "I can't imagine Harold Wilson or Tony Blair doing this. It shows weakness and pettiness," a frustrated Labour MP said. Another in the party mused how it would help: "Morale is already down in the dumps among the base, among members and councillors. How is this going to help?"

What next?

The prime minister "has to hope this splash of discipline helps soothe and calm his party", said Mason. But similar battles are likely to flare up in the autumn, when the government is expected to propose controversial new taxes and reforms in sensitive areas such as health and special needs education.

Maskell, the most senior of the expelled MPs, told the BBC she would do "all that I can to support the Labour government", but "that doesn't mean that I'm silenced".

In removing the whip from four of his harshest critics within the party, Starmer has possibly given them greater influence now that they are outside the tent – with nothing left to lose.