Boris Johnson suffered a significant mutiny in parliament last week – with some striking names among the rebels

Tory MPs were told by their whips that they were expected to vote against a Labour amendment tabled by Chris Bryant, and it is notable that 45 of them felt strongly enough to vote for it, writes John Rentoul

The PM must be worried that his new troops are not as biddable as they might have been in the past (Getty)

Boris Johnson has a large majority in parliament and yet lost a vote on Tuesday by a margin of five. It didn’t attract as much attention as it deserved because it was formally a free vote – that is, Conservative MPs were allowed to vote as they thought best, rather than being required to follow their whips’ instructions.

Neither side tried very hard to get their MPs to vote, and large numbers didn’t vote at all, but Tory MPs were told by their whips that they were expected to vote against a Labour amendment tabled by Chris Bryant, and it is significant that 45 of them felt strongly enough to vote for it.

The question was whether the new scheme for handling complaints against MPs of bullying or harassment should be completely independent. The plan is to set up an independent panel to hear complaints, but Bryant’s amendment sought to close a loophole that would mean MPs could debate complaints against them in the House of Commons.