Welfare rebellion to test Starmer’s authority like never before

All of a sudden, this is a grave crisis for Sir Keir Starmer, perhaps the gravest of his year in Downing Street so far.

Politically, it looks very hard for the government to proceed with its flagship welfare policies.

Economically, it is very hard to see how the government cannot proceed.

Labour whips, I’m told, have been jumping up and down for weeks trying to warn their colleagues in 10 and 11 Downing Street that the rebellion over the welfare reforms (or, depending on which wing of the Labour Party you are speaking to, welfare cuts) was shaping up to be much bigger than anticipated.

Still, the numbers involved in the amendment published overnight – 123 and rising – are breathtaking.

A year after the prime minister won a landslide of…