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chickenbones
Regardless of their intentions, I doubt McDonnell 'walked into a trap'. He's a very seasoned politician, regardless of what one might think of his politics.
Sure, the left were using the vote t0 have a dig at the leadership - but it's also one of the only ways they can express their position in a party which has stifled internal democracy. Chris Mason reports that Blair had a bigger rebellion to his first Kings Speech (for which no whips were removed).
Anyway, the whole thing gave McDonnell the opportunity to whip out this cracker "I don't like voting for other parties' amendments, but I'm following Keir Starmer's example as he said put country before party"
The irony of the whole thing is despite the whole changed party/anti-left narrative, the leadership are enforcing discipline like the very best/worst 20th century communist parties.