HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that
legislator A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...
s who are members of a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
attend and vote on
legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...
as the party leadership prescribes.


United Kingdom

In
British politics The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the ...
, the Chief Whip of the governing party in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
is usually also appointed as
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the official title of the most senior whip of the governing party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Today, any official links between the Treasury and this office are nominal and the title ...
, a
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...
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. 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 A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
.
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
was known 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 A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
, never appearing on television or radio in their capacity as whip. An exception occurred on 1 April 2019 when Julian Smith chose to criticise his own government and Prime Minister. Whips in the House of Commons do not, by convention, speak in debates. The Government Chief Whip is assisted by the Deputy Chief Whip, other whips, and assistant whips. In order to provide the whip with a salary, the government whips are appointed to positions in
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ...
and in the Royal Household under the
Lord Steward of the Household The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household is an official of the Royal Household in England. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government. Until 1782, the office was one of considerable political importance ...
. The whips are not fully active in either of these departments, though they 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. The remaining whips are
Lords Commissioners of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...
. Assistant whips, and whips of opposition parties, generally do not receive such appointments. The Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords also holds the role of
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms The Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms is a post in the Government of the United Kingdom that has been held by the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is th ...
, while the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the Lords holds the role of
Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard The Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a UK Government post usually held by the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords. The present Captain is The 9th Earl of Courtown, who was appointed to the position ...
. 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. Outside the government, the Official Opposition Chief Whip in the Commons, like the Leader of the Opposition, receives a
stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work p ...
in addition to their parliamentary salary, because their additional responsibilities will make them unable to hold down another job. The whips, although superficially dictatorial, act as communicators between 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 The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...
under
Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of the ...
in the 1880s, in 1846 the
Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...
advised the new
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
leader
Lord Stanley Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...
to ensure that his "whippers-in" were personally loyal. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the use of the term "whippers-in" was first recorded in the parliamentary sense in the
Annual Register ''The Annual Register'' (originally subtitled "A View of the History, Politicks and Literature of the Year ...") is a long-established reference work, written and published each year, which records and analyses the year's major events, developmen ...
of 1772.


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 vote they are to make is communicated to them in the chamber by hand signals during the division when the time comes (usually after the
division bell In some of the Commonwealth realms, a division bell is a bell rung in or around parliament to signal a division (a vote) to members of the relevant chamber so that they may participate. A division bell may also be used to signal the start or end ...
has been rung). 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 ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official prin ...
'', as they are considered a matter internal to the
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
. 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. The party in the majority can always win a vote, if its members obey the whip. 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 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. An example of this during John Major's government was when nine Conservative MPs had the whip removed after voting against the government on its stance on the
Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...
, becoming known as Eurosceptics. In practice they remained Conservative MPs supporting the government on other issues.
Sir Bill Cash Sir William Nigel Paul Cash (born 10 May 1940) is a British politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1984. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected for Stafford and then for Stone in Staffordshire in 1997. ...
, Sir John Redwood and Sir Iain Duncan Smith are still Conservative MPs. This was also the only time when MPs who were being whipped were cooperating 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. 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 Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
MPs voted against the official party line, and Smith's authority was weakened. Whips often employ a mixture of promises, cajoling and persuasion to force an unpopular vote. A whip should know major figures in an MP's local constituency party and the MP's agent. There have been cases where sick MPs were wheeled into the House from far afield to vote for the government on a crucial vote. Former MP
Joe Ashton Joseph William Ashton (9 October 1933 – 30 March 2020) was a British Labour Party politician who was known for his defence of the rights of Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) against the demands of the left wing of the party to subject them ...
recalled a case from the latter days of James Callaghan's government:
I remember the famous case of
Leslie Spriggs Leslie Spriggs (22 April 1910 – 22 May 1990) was a British Labour politician and trade unionist, MP for St Helens from 1958 until 1983. Born in Bolton, Spriggs served in the Navy and then worked on the railways. It was whilst he was wor ...
, 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 Sir John Stradling Thomas (10 June 1925 – 29 March 1991) was a Welsh Conservative Party politician. He was also a farmer, company director and broadcaster. Biography Thomas was educated at Rugby School and the University of London. He serv ...
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.
A minister who defies the whip is generally dismissed from their job immediately, if they have not already resigned, and returns to being a backbencher. Sometimes their votes in Parliament are called the "
payroll vote The payroll vote is a term in the British parliamentary system for Members of Parliament who concurrently hold Government positions. It includes ministers and Parliamentary Private Secretaries. Even though the last are unpaid, they are widely r ...
", 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 chief whips by party

*
Conservative Chief Whip The Chief Whip of the Conservative Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Conservative MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadershi ...
*
Labour Chief Whip The Chief Whip of the Labour Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Labour MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadership. Chief ...
* Liberal Democrats Chief Whip *
Ulster Unionist Chief Whip This is a list of people who served as Chief Whip of the Ulster Unionist Party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Parliament of the United Kingdom :1886: William Elliso ...
* ''For a list of former Government Chief Whips, see
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the official title of the most senior whip of the governing party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Today, any official links between the Treasury and this office are nominal and the title ...
''


Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Whip

The Government Chief Whip's office is headed by a
Principal Private Secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...
, who also acts as a go-between for ministers and the opposition to keep parliamentary business moving. The first officeholder, Charles Harris, was appointed privately in 1919 to assist Lord Edmund Talbot, the Conservative chief whip. He was retained by successive Conservative chief whips on a private basis, serving as their secretary during periods when the party was in government (1922–23, 1924–29 and 1935 onwards) until 1939, when the post formally became part of the civil service (as Assistant to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury) and Harris was appointed into it, with a salary of £850. David Butler
"Harris, Sir Charles Joseph William"
''
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' (online ed.,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, September 2004). Retrieved 20 November 2019.
He retired in 1961 and was succeeded by Freddie Warren; all subsequent appointees have been permanent civil servants. * 1939–1961: Sir Charles Harris, KBE * 1961–1978: Sir Freddie Warren, CBEHis entry
in ''
Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...
'' states that he was "Secretary to the Government Chief Whip" between 1958 and 1979, but Sir Charles Harris did not retire until 1961 and ''The Times'' reported only in that year that Warren succeeded him as Secretary ("Presentation to Sir Charles Harris", ''The Times'', 21 July 1961, p. 8; "Chief Whip Appoints New Secretary", ''The Times'', 2 August 1961, p. 7). His obituary in ''The Times'' gives 1961 to 1978 ("Sir Alfred Warren." ''The Times'', 15 May 1990, p. 14.).
* 1978–2000: Sir
Murdo Maclean Sir Murdo Maclean (born 1943) is a Scottish former civil servant and non-executive director. Maclean worked at the Employment Exchange in Govan from 1963 to 1964, when he was appointed to the Board of Trade. Three years later he was seconded to th ...
* 2000–2021: Sir
Roy Stone Roy Stone (October 16, 1836 – August 5, 1905) was an American soldier, civil engineer, and inventor. He served in the American Civil War, distinguishing himself during the Battle of Gettysburg, and took part in the Spanish–American War. He ...
, CBE


India

In
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, 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, that person 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 to direct
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
or
Member of Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...
on whom to vote.


In other countries

There are also Chief Whips or similar positions in: * Australia
party whip (Australia) In the Parliament of Australia, the political parties appoint party whips to ensure party discipline, help manage legislative business and carry out a variety of other functions on behalf of the party leadership. Additional functions of the gover ...
*
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
*
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
Chief Government Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...
*
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
*
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
*
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach The Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach is a junior ministerial post in the Department of the Taoiseach of the Government of Ireland who performs duties and functions delegated by the Taoiseach. The position was first created ...
*
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
– See above *
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
Chief Whip *
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
*
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
*
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
*
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
Minister for Parliamentary Business The Minister for Parliamentary Business is a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government. As a result, the minister does not attend the Scottish Cabinet but supports the Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery, who is a member of the cabin ...
* Sri Lanka
Chief Government Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...
*
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
Chief Whip of the Majority Party *
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
*
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
*
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
– several equivalent positions: House Majority and Minority Whips and the Senate Majority and Minority Whips


In fiction

British Chief Whips have appeared in TV series such as ''
House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...
'', ''
Yes Minister ''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fr ...
'', ''
The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' and ''
The Thick of It ''The Thick of It'' is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of British government. Written and directed by Armando Iannucci, it was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially with a smal ...
''.


See also

*
Whip (politics) A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...
* The
Public Whip The Public Whip is a parliamentary informatics project that analyses and publishes the voting history of MPs in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was developed by Francis Irving and Julian Todd following the 18 March 2003 Parliamentary Ap ...


Notes


References

{{Downing Street Ministerial offices in the United Kingdom Political whips