MK Ami Ayalon, the most outspoken challenger to Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz's leadership and the first speaker at Labor's central committee meeting on Sunday, set the tone for what followed. He didn't refer to Peretz once throughout his speech, even though he supported the motion brought by the chairman. Labor might have voted - by a large majority in an open ballot - in favor of staying in the coalition together with newcomer Avigdor Lieberman, allowing Peretz to remain defense minister, but this was certainly no victory for the beleaguered chairman. Ayalon claimed that his support of the motion was due only to national responsibility. As a backbench MK, he said, "I have nothing to gain by staying in the government."