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The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures whose task is to administer the whipping system that tries to ensure that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires. In British politics, the Chief Whip of the governing party in the House of Commons is usually also appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a Cabinet position. The Government Chief Whip has an official residence at 12 Downing Street. However, the Chief Whip's office is currently located at 9 Downing Street.
Contents
- The whip as a party line
- Lists of Government Whips
- Lists of Chief Whips by party
- Other jurisdictions
- India
- In fiction
- References
The Chief Whip can wield great power over their party's MPs, including cabinet ministers, being seen to speak at all times with the voice of the Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher was famed for using her Chief Whip as a "cabinet enforcer".
The role of Chief Whip is regarded as secretive, as the Whip is concerned with the discipline of their own party's Members of Parliament and never appears on television or radio in their capacity as whip. An exception was Andrew Mitchell, the Government Chief Whip in 2012, who appeared on television to deny remarks made about himself.
Whips in the House of Commons do not speak in debates.
The Government Chief Whip is assisted by the Deputy Chief Whip, other Whips, and Assistant Whips. In order to give them a salary for what is in essence a party office, the government whips are appointed to positions in HM Treasury and in the Royal Household under the Lord Steward of the Household. The whips are not fully active in either of these departments, though do undertake a number of responsibilities. The Deputy Chief Whip is Treasurer of HM Household, the next two Whips are Comptroller of HM Household and Vice-Chamberlain of HM Household, and the remaining Whips are Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. Assistant Whips, and Whips of opposition parties, generally do not receive such appointments.
Outside of the government, the Official Opposition Chief Whip in the Commons, like the Leader of the Opposition, receives a stipend in addition to their parliamentary salary, because their additional responsibilities will make them unable to hold down another job.
The whips, although superficially dictatorial, do act as communicators between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Ultimately if backbenchers are unhappy with the leadership's position they can threaten to revolt during a vote and force the leadership to compromise.
While the whip was formally introduced to British politics by the Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell in the 1880s, in 1846 the Duke of Wellington advised the new Conservative Party leader Lord Stanley to ensure that his "whippers-in" were personally loyal.
The whip as a party line
In the UK Parliament the importance of a vote is indicated by underlining of items on the "whip", which is the name of the letter the Chief Whip sends to all the MPs in their party at the start of the week. This letter informs them of the schedule for the days ahead, and includes the sentence, "Your attendance is absolutely essential" next to each debate in which there will be a vote. This sentence is underlined once, twice or three times depending on the consequences that will be suffered if they do not turn up, hence the origin of the terms one-line whip, two-line whip and three-line whip. The actual direction of their vote is communicated to them in the chamber by hand signals during the division when the time comes (usually after the division bell has been rung). Even though it is more important to the result of any division than the debate, neither these instructions, which are visible to everyone in the chamber, nor the "whip" letter at the start of the week, are recorded in Hansard, as they are considered a matter internal to the political party; indeed, the system exists because any explicit direction to an MP as to how they should vote would be a breach of Parliamentary Privilege.
The consequences of defying the party whip depend on the circumstances, and are usually negotiated with the party whip in advance. The party whip's job is to ensure the outcome of the vote, so the situation is different and more important for a party which holds the majority, because if their members obey the whip they can always win: when in 1990, Mrs Thatcher was challenged for the leadership the Chief Whip she could not win in the first round of ballots.
If the party has a large Commons majority, it can make allowances for MPs who are away on important business, or whose political circumstances require them to take a particular single issue very seriously. Theoretically at least, expulsion from the party is an automatic consequence of defying a three-line whip. Other such offences include betraying party loyalties: in 2011 Aidan Burley, a new young MP was censured for wearing an SS uniform at a party whilst doing a Nazi salute. His outspoken views caused expulsion from the party, losing the whip, he was de-selected for the 2015 General Election.
Another example of this was during John Major's government, nine Conservative MPs had the whip officially removed after voting against the government on its stance on the Maastricht Treaty, becoming known as Eurosceptics. In practice they remained Conservative MPs supporting the government on other issues: Sir Bill Cash, John Redwood and Ian Duncan Smith are still Conservative MPs. This was also the only time when MPs who are being whipped were co-operating with the opposite side's whips: in most cases the 'pairing' system enables one from each side to cancel out the other's vote if absent simultaneously. Yet despite the whip, individuals are entitled to vote according to their own beliefs, particularly when there is a 'Free Vote' on a matter of conscience. There are some cases in which the whip is removed because an issue is a matter of conscience. These include adoption, religion and equal opportunities. The impact of a whip being imposed on a matter of conscience can be damaging for a party leader. One such case was that of Iain Duncan-Smith, who imposed a three-line whip against the adoption of children by unmarried couples (which at the time meant gay couples could never adopt). Several Conservative MPs voted against the official party line, and Duncan-Smith's authority was weakened.
Whips can often be brutal to backbenchers to secure their vote, and will resort to a mixture of promises, cajoling and persuading to force an unpopular vote. A good whip will know secrets and incriminating information about Members of Parliament. A whip should know major figures in an MP's local constituency party and the MP's agent. There have been cases where sick Members of Parliament were wheeled into the House from far afield to vote for the government on a crucial vote. Former MP Joe Ashton recalled a case from the dying days of James Callaghan's government:
"I remember the famous case of Leslie Spriggs, the then-Member for St. Helens. We had a tied vote and he was brought to the House in an ambulance having suffered a severe heart attack. The two Whips went out to look in the ambulance and there was Leslie Spriggs laid there as though he was dead. I believe that John Stradling Thomas said to Joe Harper, 'How do we know that he is alive?' So he leaned forward, turned the knob on the heart machine, the green light went around, and he said, 'There, you've lost—it's 311.' That is an absolutely true story. It is the sort of nonsense that used to happen. No one believes it, but it is true."
For a minister, the consequences of defying the party whip are absolute: they are dismissed from their job immediately, if they have not already resigned, and return to being a backbencher. Sometimes their votes in Parliament are called the "payroll vote", because they can be taken for granted. The consequences for a back-bencher can include the lack of future promotion to a government post, a reduction of party campaigning effort in his or her constituency during the next election, deselection by his or her local party activists, or, in extreme circumstances, "withdrawal of the whip" and expulsion from the party.
Lists of Government Whips
As at July 2016, the Conservative Government Whips in the Commons are:
A similar arrangement exists for Whips in the House of Lords. The Government Chief Whip is usually appointed Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, while the Deputy Chief Whip is usually appointed Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard. Other Whips, who are fewer in number due to the decreased importance of party discipline in the Lords, are appointed as Lords in Waiting if men and Baronesses in Waiting if women. As well as their duties as whips, Lords whips speak in the Chamber (unlike Commons whips) to support departmental ministers or act as a spokesperson for government departments with no minister in the Lords. The current Lords whips are:
Lists of Chief Whips by party
Other jurisdictions
There are also Chief Whips in:
The United States uses the similar terms majority whip and minority whip.
India
In India, the concept of the whip was inherited from colonial British rule. Every major political party appoints a whip who is responsible for the party's discipline and behaviour on the floor of the house. Usually, he/she directs the party members to stick to the party's stand on certain issues and directs them to vote as per the direction of senior party members. However, there are some cases such as Indian presidential election where no whip can be issued directing Member of Parliament or Member of Legislative Assembly on whom to vote.
In fiction
British Chief Whips have appeared in fiction such as House of Cards, Yes Minister and The New Statesman.