Labor MPs have unanimously backed the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend Senator Fatima Payman.

There was complete support for Anthony Albanese’s decision to suspend Payman in a vote in a meeting on Tuesday.

It came as senior Labor MPs rebuffed suggestions the first-term Western Australian senator has been frozen out by party colleagues as the row threatens to derail government business.

Albanese told Labor’s caucus meeting on Tuesday he had received some criticism for showing restraint but “some compassion is a strength not a weakness”.

He said he was PM only because he “had Labor next to his name”. Similarly, Payman was elected only because she ran as a Labor candidate.

“That is true for every one of us,” he said. “This is the most united caucus I had been part of.”

Payman could return if she pledged to respect party processes, Albanese said. There was no debate and the motion was agreed to unanimously, a party spokesman said.

In a fiery statement on Monday, Payman accused party members of trying to intimidate her into quitting the Senate. She described being isolated by the party and colleagues after being suspended from caucus for crossing the floor to support a pro-Palestine motion put by the Greens.

But Health Minister Mark Butler rejected that suggestion on Tuesday, saying Albanese had followed established party policy.

“I reject that entirely,” he told the ABC.

“The Prime Minister’s position was put in a measured, proportionate way on Sunday, after the interview on Insiders,” he said, referring to when Payman told ABC host David Speers she would cross the floor again on a similar vote on Palestine.

“It’s not a new position. It’s a position that’s been being adopted by prime ministers going back through Hawke, Keating, Whitlam, back to Curtin and Chifley and even before that.”

“This is a very long-standing principle of Labor that the party candidates sign onto, frankly, when they get the privilege of putting themselves forward for election to public office with the Labor Party next to their name on the ballot paper.”

Payman said on Monday she had also been told to avoid all Senate chamber duties, including attending votes.

“I have lost all contact with my caucus colleagues. I have been removed from caucus meetings, committees, internal group chats, and whips bulletins,” she said.

“I have been exiled. These actions lead me to believe that some members are attempting to intimidate me into resigning from the Senate.”

Senator Katy Gallagher said colleagues had tried to reach out to Payman.

“These are decisions, you know, that she has made for herself,” the Minister for Women and Finance said on ABC radio.

“She’s made the decisions that she can only make herself, and I know a lot of her colleagues who have worked with her are desperately trying to reach out and provide support where they can.”

Gallagher rejected suggestions the row had exposed limits to the diversity that Labour leaders say they are proud of.

“Our diversity is our strength – you know, going right back in history, the Labor Party has always supported diversity. Our election to government in 2022 delivered the most diverse caucus ever and that’s something we are really proud of,” she said.

“I’m very proud to be a member of this caucus and it brings perspective from right around the country from diverse cultures, from First Nations communities all the way to new arrivals and that’s a real strength for our government.”

-with AAP