As of March 2022, there are eight MPs sitting as Independents, having had the whip removed. Twenty-one Conservative MPs had the whip removed in 2019 after voting against the government to allow MPs to take control of the Commons timetable to pass the Benn Act, which was designed to remove the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. The ‘whip being removed’ means that the MP ceases to represent their party and sits as an independent MP. What does it mean to have the whip removed? Repeatedly disobeying the whip may also affect a MP’s chance of re-selection by their constituency party, or re-election at a general election.ĭefying a three-line whip is considered extremely serious and can lead to the whip being removed from the MP in question. However, sanctions for breaching the whip can include reduced prospects of promotion within the party, or selection for unpopular parliamentary duties, such as membership of delegated legislation committees. It is not always clear if an MP has disobeyed the whip, as voting instructions are not publicly available. There are no fixed consequences for disobeying the whip, and the penalties vary depending on the type of whip and the individual and political circumstances. Finally, a three-line whip is an explicit instruction to MPs that their attendance is ‘essential’ and permission to miss such a vote would rarely be granted. A two-line whip, the most rare of the three, signifies that attendance is ‘necessary’ and MPs will need to request permission if they need to miss the vote. A one-line whip means MPs are ‘requested’ but not required to attend the vote. The importance of the vote is indicated by the number of times it is underlined: once, twice, or three times.
The whip is also issued in the House of Lords, although party discipline is less strictly enforced among peers. The details of each party’s whip are not publicly released, however, meaning that there is no certainty over how MPs have been ordered to vote on any particular issue.
#Define mps how to
The instructions on how to vote are referred to as the ‘whip’. MPs are usually expected to show loyalty to their party when voting in parliament.
Jacqui Smith, Labour chief whip from 2006 to 2007, emphasised how different being a whip is to being a departmental minister: “it was much more about interactions, meetings, individuals, calls with MPs and fellow ministers” and “much more political and organisational within government than the other jobs that I had been used to.” What is ‘the whip’? Gavin Barwell, who was a government whip between 20, told the Institute for Government that “pretty much anyone on our side, and sometimes even opposition MPs, would come up to you, because they knew you would know when the vote was coming and what it was about … and you’d be the go-to expert on that.” He also spoke about how whipping has changed over time: “If you read stories of whipping in the ‘50s and ‘60s, it sounds like there was a lot of barking orders and intimidation, and that doesn’t work today.” They have the power to allocate offices in the parliamentary estate and are known to offer the possibility of government, or shadow government, positions to MPs in exchange for their loyalty (although it is the prime minister or leader of the opposition who ultimately decides on the allocation of these roles). Whips also use more positive means of encouragement. He reported that MPs had been told their constituencies could lose investment if they continued in their attempt to oust Boris Johnson. The political commentator Philip Cowley famously claimed that Conservative whips kept a ‘black book’ containing party members’ misdemeanours for leverage, while during the height of the ‘partygate’ scandal in January 2022, the Conservative chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee William Wragg accused government whips of blackmailing their MPs. Whips employ multiple persuasive tools to ensure as many of their party members vote as possible, and in the desired way, although there is little public discussion about how they work, with some alleging that whips can resort to underhand approaches. In addition, whips organise ‘pairing’ arrangements, which allow MPs to be absent from a vote by matching them with an absent opposition MP, thereby effectively ‘cancelling out’ each other’s vote.
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