Whips have their photo taken

I was informed today by the estimable Deputy Chief Whip, Tommy McAvoy, that he is an avid reader of my blog. He also claims to have access to Twitter. I regard this of course as a great honour. I feel more than a little unworthy to be consuming even a smidgeon of the attention of such a great man, with so many other important things to occupy his time. (And if you're his researcher, who I suspect is the person who really reads it - I am prepared to offer bribes).

Until the last reshuffle but one, when he was promoted to Deputy, Tommy was the only Government Minister to have occupied the same post since the 1997 election. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were of course runners-up, with ten years apiece in the same posts, and I think Lord Sainsbury lasted almost as long as that as Science Minister.

This morning we had the official annual Whips photo taken at No. 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister. Photos of the previous incumbents line the corridor walls in No. 9 Downing Street (which links to the Cabinet Office and is where the Chief Whip and his staff reside when they're not over in the Commons). I could spend hours looking at them. The very first ones date back maybe 100 years or so, with a small group of maybe five or six men in top hats and tails posing raffishly in chairs on the Terrace. My favourite is one from the 1950s with a bunch of Tory whips striding purposefully across the Downing Street lawn, Reservoir Dogs style.

I'm still convinced we should have recreated that this morning, instead of what we did, with a rather uninspired set-up with one row of whips sitting, one row of whips standing and the PM and Chief sitting in the middle. I was obviously standing - tall ones at the back!

The display of photos at No. 9 reveal that there were no women in the Whips Office until Wilson's 1964 team, where history was made by Harriet Slater. (I have to confess I've never heard of her). She served till 1966 and then it was thirty years - thirty years! - before another woman joined the Whips Office, with Jacqui Lait being appointed in the dying years of the Major administration.

And then Labour got elected and pretty soon we had the first female Chief Whip (Ann Taylor, 1998-2001), the second (Hilary Armstrong, 2001-2006) and the third (Jacqui Smith, 2006-2007), as well as a whole host of junior female whips. And the Whips Office became the cuddly, friendly, inviting place, smelling of flowers and cake, that it is today.

I'll post a copy of the photo when I have one, and I will very, very rigorously vet the comments!

Last word on whipping for tonight

I haven't ever seen or read House of Cards, but it's now on my 'must do' list so I can learn just when it's appropriate to push fellow politicians off the top of tall buildings and when I should resort to other, less draconian methods.

I've also been advised to get hold of a copy of Gyles Brandeth's book on his time as an MP and whip. Apparently it was common practice in the Tory Whips' office to start the morning meeting with a glass of champagne! I can categorically confirm that it doesn't happen in the Labour ranks.

More on whipping

The key misconception about the role of the Whips office is that it's all about forcing people to do what they don't want to do (i.e. to vote with the party, not against it). OK, so the job of the whips is to get Government business through the House. but more often than not this is about the simple task of making sure enough MPs are present to vote. Each whip has particular responsibilities. I'm the South West whip, which means I look after backbenchers in the South West region (all seven of them, so I get off lightly!) I also have departmental responsibilities, for No. 10, DFID and the Northern Ireland office.

If those backbenchers or Ministers in those departments want to miss a vote, they have to ask me if they can be 'slipped'. For example, if Shaun Woodward or Paul Goggins want to be in Stormont, they have to clear this with the whip. The final say goes to the all-powerful pairing whip. Until recently the post was occupied by the formidable Tommy McAvoy, but he's now been promoted to Deputy Chief Whip, and now it's Tony Cunningham's job. He has to make sure we have the numbers to get legislation through, whilst taking into account MPs' other commitments. What's more important, for example - a Minister wanting to travel to Brussels for a meeting of his/ her EU counterparts, or a backbench MP wanting to attend the funeral of a long-serving councillor back in the constituency? Someone wanting to attend the opening of a local Children's Centre, or someone wanting to go on an overseas Select Committee visit? And then there's the issue of whether to call in those who are sick, or on maternity leave or compassionate leave, depending on how tight the vote is likely to be. Then there's a judgment call to be made as to whether certain MPs (former Cabinet ministers in particular, and some of the old-stagers) are likely to hang around for the 10pm votes - and not much can be done to stop them if they don't want to.

Finally, there's the issue of rebellions. How many Labour MPs are likely to vote against the Government? How many are likely to abstain? This is where what some would refer to as the whips' "dark arts" come into play. A whip needs to know what backbenchers are thinking and feeling and planning on doing. But this is as much about having a good relationship with those MPs, and having a two-way conversation. If an MP has concerns about a particular piece of legislation it's far better to arrange for them to talk to a Minister, and see if consensus can be reached before the issue comes to a vote. Either the backbencher's concerns will be allayed, or the Minister will concede a point. And on some occasions appeals to the backbencher's loyalty might be made, of course, which is what people commonly perceive to be the Whips' role, the so-called arm-twisting.

As for the little black book rumoured to exist somewhere in the Whips' office, containing everyone's darkest secrets... it doesn't exist. It is actually quite important for a whip to know something of what is going on in the lives of 'their MPs', but not for blackmail purposes! If an MP has a health problem, or a parent or partner who is seriously ill, or problems with their local party, or whatever, it's useful to know so that MPs can be supported, and allowances made, for example in not putting them on big Bill committees or 'slipping' them from late votes. So actually we're quite cuddly really. Our job is to look after MPs. To befriend them. Honestly!

Whip it!

As Devo once said. Whip it, whip it good. OK, so I'm now a Government whip and yes, I am already fed up with the jokes. Contrary to mischevious rumour and speculation, that does not mean I'm not allowed to blog or Twitter or otherwise cease to be a normally-functioning human being (if a politician could ever be described thus, which I doubt). The Chief Whip did actually give me permission to blog about what goes on at whips meetings 'so long as you make it all up'. So that's alright then.

I got the call from Nick Brown on Tuesday morning as I was heading for the Immigration Bill Committee. Hadn't actually given much thought to the prospects of being 'shuffled' till then; too much else on my plate, and the phone wasn't working so couldn't sit there gazing at it longingly hoping it would ring, as we lowly backbenchers are meant to do at reshuffle time. But I said yes, and then had to sit in Bill Committee for two-and-a-half hours wondering what it would all mean.

The starting point is that as a whip, you're officially part of the Government. As a PPS you're kind of halfway - you are part of your particular ministerial team, and therefore not allowed to ask Qs or speak in debates on matters relevant to that department, and you're not supposed to sign Early Day Motions calling on the Government to do something or other, but otherwise you are able to act like an ordinary backbencher. Once you become a whip, all that goes out of the window. You can't speak in any debates, ask written or oral questions, sign EDMs, sit on a Select Committee or be an officer of an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). Which basically rules out rather a lot of what I would normally do.

Usually I'd be looking through the Order of Business, seeing whether there are any questions I'd want to come in on, or any debates I'd want to intervene in. I'd be thinking what questions to table, and whether to ask for an adjournment debate on an issue. And I'd also spend a fair amount of time involved in my APPGs, as Chair of the Credit Union APPG, Secretary of the Somaliland APPG and Vice-Chair of the Wholesale Financial Markets Group. (An eclectic mix of topics!)

I'd also recently been appointed to the South West Regional Select Committe, and we'd had our first 'offsite' meeting on Monday, in Swindon at the Steam Railway Museum. (I had to do a radio interview while I was there, and ended up hiding in a broom cupboard as that was the only place you couldn't hear the sound of a steam train whistle every few minutes. But that's another story). I've now got to come off the Committee, but will still be taking an interest in the APPGs, just not as an officer.

Of course, as I always tell people, much of an MP's influence isn't exercised in public ways. It's as much about writing to Ministers, or having meetings with them, or collaring them in the division lobby as it is about asking questions or getting into debates in the House. Questions are actually a rather crude, though important, device in getting an item onto the political agenda. They usually have to be followed up in some other way. The challenge now will not so much be about how I get across constituents' views or raise issues with the powers-that-be, as there are still plenty of ways to do that, but more how I demonstrate to constituents that my silence in the Chamber doesn't mean I'm not speaking up for them. Glad I managed to get in the debate on livestock's impact on the environment before my promotion, and a prisoners' families debate, as those were the two issues I felt no-one else was prepared to raise. Bit disappointed I won't be able to speak in the Child Poverty Bill Second Reading, which is coming up very soon, or serve on the Committee, but will definitely still be taking an interest.

So - that's what a whip can't do. Next post will be about what a whip does do.