Viva Brighton Issue #50 April 2017

INTERVIEW
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The whip system
Recent Labour rebel Peter Kyle tells all
Peter Kyle walked into the Labour whips’ office,
accidentally interrupting a meeting. This was
a few months ago, before he defied the party’s
three-line whip over the Brexit bill. Perhaps the
whips guessed what he’d come to talk about.
“They all stopped and looked at me,” the MP for
Hove and Portslade recalls.
“The deputy chief whip walked over, walked past
me, and opened the door to his office, without
saying a word. I knew what I was supposed to do.
I walked in... He slammed the door shut and said
something quite frank and unrepeatable, along
the lines of ‘what are you doing here, Kyle’, but
using other words. I said to him ‘I’m intending to
break the whip.’”
If Kyle was nervous at this point, it would have
been understandable. Years earlier, he had read
Jeremy Paxman’s 2002 book The Political Animal.
It portrays whips as pretty fearsome people -
scheming, bullying, Machiavellian types. It says
that, ‘for the average backbencher, the whip is the
street-corner thug they need to get past on their
way home from school’. It’s got some worrying
stories about things whips have done to ensure
MPs’ obedience.
However, Kyle had also worked for Hilary
Armstrong, a former chief whip, and “had a lot of
conversations with her about how it changed…
I think what [Paxman] was describing was an era
that ended, pretty much, pretty soon into the
Blair period…
“I don’t think, in this day and age, the whips’
main job is actually discipline anymore. I think
the whips’ job is a much more sophisticated one
now… ninety percent of what I’ve experienced
from whips has been supportive. It’s much more
akin to the role of an HR department in any
other business.
“So, for example, I will get a phonecall from my
whip saying, ‘there’s a piece of legislation coming
in in two weeks’ time; we think this is something
that you’re really interested in and would have
an interesting perspective on - would you want
to speak on it? Would you like to go on the bill
committee for it? Is there any information we can
provide for you?’
“There’ll be other times when my whip will call
me and say, ‘we know that you are very, very busy
at the moment, you’re under a lot of stress; is
everything ok? Can we help you with anything?
Is there any additional support that you need – in
terms of information, lightening the load, that
kind of thing?’
“Whipping is far more about understanding the
challenges and problems that MPs have, than just
trying to squeeze them into one voting lobby in
one division… It’s a much more sophisticated
job than people realise; it’s a lot more supportive
than people realise. As an MP, I’ve always
been really grateful for it, although I’ve been
at the receiving end of some pretty challenging
conversations.”
For example, that Brexit-bill encounter in the
deputy chief whip’s office. “He tore into my argument...
We had a conversation that lasted about
half an hour. It ranged from quiet, deliberate,
detailed, calm conversation, to the other extreme,
where there were raised voices and… It was very,
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