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Horses for Courses: The Recruitment of Whips in the British House of Commons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Donald Searing  and
Chris Game
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Extract

Whips have always aroused curiosity. Their peculiar title, which suggests coercion and social control, derives from ‘Whipper-in’, a man who keeps headstrong hounds running with the pack. The packs, that is to say the parliamentary parties, are heterogeneous associations of independent and egocentric individuals, not at all the sort to shy away from dissent and rebellion. Between 1966 and 1970 the Labour Government faced backbench opposition on almost every major policy; the 1970–74 Conservative Government was actually defeated five times by its own supporters. Still, although it may well be true that ‘the golden age of ultra-disciplined parties is past’, when the time comes to march, and regardless of the issues involved, most Members seem ready to follow a lead: remarkably few bolt upon reaching the division lobbies. Even the recent ‘undisciplined’ record must appear to administrators everywhere as very successful social control indeed.

Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 1977 , pp. 361 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

1 King, Anthony, ‘The Chief Whip's Clothes’, in Leonard, Dick and Herman, Valentine, eds., The Backbencher and Parliament (London: Macmillan, 1972), p. 86.Google Scholar

2 Jackson, Robert J., Rebels and Whips (London: Macmillan, 1968)Google Scholar; Richards, Peter G., The Backbenchers (London: Faber, 1972).Google Scholar

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6 Unlike the other names mentioned in this article, ‘Ted Carpenter’ is a pseudonym.

7 For example, Berkeley, Humphry, Crossing the Floor (London: Allen and Unwin, 1972), p. 142Google Scholar; and Hamilton, William in King, Anthony and Sloman, Anne, eds., Westminster and Beyond (London: Macmillan, 1973), p. 109.Google Scholar

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11 Another prominent feature of the Labour Office in recent years has been the high proportion of Roman Catholic nominations. Nearly one in three of the new recruits appointed under Robert Mellish as Chief Whip (1969–76) was, like Mellish himself, a Catholic. Yet, by contrast with the preference for trade unionists, this Roman Catholic presence reflects idiosyncratic predilections of a particular Chief Whip rather than a recruitment criterion of more general significance.

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15 Just how clearly defined that ladder is can be illustrated by reference to this Conservative MP's orthodox career progression: 1964 elected to Parliament; 1966 secretary to a backbench party committee; 1970 Parliamentary Private Secretary; 1971 Assistant Whip; 1973 Lord Commissioner of the Treasury (Senior Government Whip); 1974 Opposition frontbench spokesman.

16 In 1969, for instance, James Hamilton and Raymond Dobson were appointed as Assistant Labour Whips soon after they had voted against their Government's White Paper In Place of Strife – partly, no doubt, to improve relations with alienated trade-union Members. For a Conservative illustration of this time-honoured strategy (in 1883), see Chilston, Viscount, Chief Whip: The Political Life and Times of Aretas Akers-Douglas 1st Viscount Chilston (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961), p. 27.Google Scholar

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30 What they do is look around the House and listen to others who are knowledgeable in such matters, insiders like Lord Swinton, who apparently advised the young Edward Heath to ‘Take the chance to get into the machine, at however squalid a level.’ Roth, , Heath and the Heathmen, p. 80.Google Scholar

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