What is "the whip" in politics?

[Dilbertian]

What does it mean? Also "three line whip" and "losing the whip", what do these mean?

The whips are the people who supposedly enforce party discipline and persuade (coerce) people to vote a certain way, ask a certain question and the like.

A vote that is a three line whip means that you must vote the way that you're told, and there will be disciplinary consequences if you done.

Losing the whip means that you're basically kicked out of the party for a certain period, or sometimes forever. It means that you're not part of your party anymore and are an independent MP. That doesn't happen particularly often because parties want to keep as many MP's as they can in order to have as many people as possible vote a certain way.

If only Google existed ... 🙄

It's possibly helpful to have someone explain it in easy to understand terms if they've reached adulthood without knowing what a whip is in politics.

I found this thread incredibly useful to explain Whips.

Can some brilliant MNer please explain to me how the fracking vote brought Liz Truss down? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/politics/4660698-can-some-brilliant-mner-please-explain-to-me-how-the-fracking-vote-brought-liz-truss-down

@TokyoSushi that's a very good description.

@Dilbertian it's fine to ask this sort of stuff on here. It can lead to interesting chat and discussion so take no notice of the thread police.

This sneery attitude to not knowing things seems to be gaining popularity on here lately. It’s a real shame as all it does it make people too embarrassed to asked questions and instead stay ignorant.

'The Whip' is essentially a party 'newsletter' that each political party decides weekly to give the MPs of that party a roundup of what votes/debates are coming up and a suggestion of how the party wants them to vote on it.

'The Whips' are the people appointed in the party to cajole the MPs to vote the way the leaders of the party want them to.

a 'three line whip' means that the suggestion of how to vote is an instruction/demand rather than a suggestion. This is indicated by it being underlined three times in 'The Whip' to indicate how important it is.

if you disobey a 'three line whip' then you are likely to 'lose the whip'. It basically means you are excommunicated from the party and subsequently continue acting as an independent from then on until you either resign, are voted out or have the whip restored.

Whipping comes from fox hunting and running/controlling a pack of dogs. So literally the whips (senior party MPs) control the dogs (the party MPs). A three line whip is applied to a piece of legislation and how the party will vote on it, and the Act in question, has three lines under it when it is sent out to MPs to show it is important and how you are to vote. Losing the whip means you are no longer part of the pack, so therefore no longer a member of the party, which means you are cut adrift.

Absolutely!!

Indeed.

Thank you for the explanation @TokyoSushi

I was asked to explain where the term ´Tory' came from and if it was the same as the Conservatives. They were extremely embarrassed but there's absolutely no reason to be.

As said upthread, the "whipper in" is an assistant huntsman whose role is to bring straying hounds back into the pack.

Jeez, it's not sneery! But if you Google you are more likely to get an accurate answer than if you ask people on here. Because you know, people have been known to be wrong... 🙄🙄

Best let HQ know they may as well shut MN down because Google then 🙄

And yes, you were sneery!

Some things when you google aren’t always right either

Oh @FuchsAndMöhr - People post on MN for personal stories, not to find out things they can easily find out from googling.

A lot of the time Google gives too much detailed and sometimes it's better to ask on here, as it's a more easier to understand perspectives.

@elephantseal do you use MN much! People ask questions on here all the time

ODFOD.

I know what they are and have found how they have been explained differently interesting.

I searched for whip on Google and this MN thread came up. What do I do now?

😂😂😂

Perfectly reasonable question to ask. Yes OP could ask google but isn't it more interesting to ask MN and be part of a conversation with others also interested in the question/subject. Some of the topics on here would be a bit scant or dull if we asked google.

Yes, if only Google existed, you’d never have had to start your own recent threads asking about smart watches, and CCTV.

Indeed.

It is sneery. If everyone just googled everything there'd be no need for any forums at all and no need for any alternative learning platform . Google is helpful but not the only way to learn , hell why pay uni fees just sit on Google .
Asking questions is a sign of confidence, none of us know everything about everything and questions help us learn .

Hahahaha!