Labour rebels struggle to justify cause, says deputy whip

He says he doesn’t mean it in a disrespectful way, but three of the four ex-Labour TDs now in exile on the opposition benches may not like John Lyons’ comments very much.

“If you were to ask most people in the public eye, and even in here, can you remember why the first three decided to go, they couldn’t tell you, I’d say, without thinking for a while, and possibly they still couldn’t come up with the answer,” he says.

That, the Labour deputy whip says, leads to an obvious question: “Was it a good enough reason to go?”