Chief Whip

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The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.

In British politics, when his or her party is in government the Chief Whip in the House of Commons is usually appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury so the incumbent (representing the whips in general) has a seat and a voice in Cabinet. The Government Chief Whip has an official residence at 9 Downing Street, formerly 12 Downing Street.

As shown in BBC television series Yes, Minister and House of Cards, the Chief Whip can wield a large amount of power over those in his or her party, up to and 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'.

In the House of Commons as of 2005, Hilary Armstrong is the Government Chief Whip, Patrick McLoughlin is the Official Opposition Chief Whip, and Paul Burstow is the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip.

The Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons is assisted by the Deputy Chief Whip, Whips, and Assistant Whips. To provide a seat in the Cabinet, the Chief Whip is usually appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. The other senior government Whips are also given offices in the Government, usually in Her Majesty's Household: the Deputy Chief Whip as Treasurer of HM (Her Majesty's) 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, of course, Whips of other parties, generally do not receive such appointments.)

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 Lords in Waiting if men and Baronesses in Waiting if women.

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 faxes 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, underlined one, two or three times depending on the consequences that will be suffered if they don't turn up. 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 Division bell has been rung). Even though it determines the outcome of the votes crucially far more 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, being as they are considered an internal matter of the political party.

The consequences for 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 the party which holds the majority, because they can always win. They can make allowances for MPs who are away on important business, whose political circumstances require them to take a particular single issue very seriously, or if there is a mass revolt. Theoretically at least, expulsion from the party is automatically consequent from defying a three-line whip.

For a minister, the consequences for 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 of their higher salaries and the fact that they can be taken for granted. The consequences for a back-bencher can include the lack of future promotion to a cabinet post, a reduction of party campaigning effort in his constituency during the next election, deselection by his local party activists, or, in extreme circumstances, "withdrawal of the whip" and expulsion from the party.

The whips, although superficially dictatorial, do act as communicators between the backbenchers and the party leadership. Ultimately if backbenchers are unhappy with the leaderships' position they can threaten to revolt during a vote and force the leadership to compromise.

The whip was first introduced to British politics by the Irish Parliamentary Party, under Charles Stewart Parnell.

There are also Chief Whips in:

The United States uses the similar terms, majority whip and minority whip.

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See also

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