The chief whip of the Labour Party oversees the whipping system in the Labour Party, and is responsible for ensuring that Labour members of Parliament (MPs) or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in Parliament of the United Kingdom in the desired way of the party leadership. The two chief whips, one in the House of Commons and one in the House of Lords, also help to organise their party's contribution to parliamentary business. The chief whip manages a team of whips, whom they may appoint from the Parliamentary Labour Party, to support the work of the whips' office.
The party leadership may allow members to have a free vote, based on their own decision, rather than party policy, which means the chief whip is not required to influence the way members vote.
The role of Chief Whip is regarded as secretive, as the Whip is concerned with the discipline of their own party's Members of Parliament.
By convention, Chief Whips do not sign early day motions or table questions to Ministers. Nor do they give media interviews in their capacity as whip.
This is a list of those people who have served as Chief Whip of the Labour Party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
House of Commons
edit| Chief Whip of the Labour Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Appointer | Leader of the Labour Party |
| Inaugural holder | David Shackleton |
| Formation | circa 1906 |
Current Deputy Chief Whip
editHouse of Lords
edit| Chief Whip of the Labour Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Inaugural holder | The Lord Muir-Mackenzie and The Earl De La Warr |
| Formation | 1924 |
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| Feb 1924 | The Lord Muir-Mackenzie |
| Feb 1924 | The Earl De La Warr |
| 1930 | The Lord Marley |
| 1937 | The Lord Strabolgi |
| 1941 | The Earl of Listowel |
| 1944 | The Lord Southwood |
| 1945 | The Lord Ammon |
| 1949 | The 1st Lord Shepherd |
| 1954 | The Earl of Lucan |
| 1964 | The 2nd Lord Shepherd |
| 1967 | The Lord Beswick |
| 1973 | The Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe |
| 1982 | The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede |
| 1990 | The Lord Graham of Edmonton |
| 1997 | The Lord Carter |
| 2002 | The Lord Grocott |
| 2008 | The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon |
| 2008 | The Lord Bassam of Brighton |
| 2018 | The Lord McAvoy |
| 2021 | The Lord Kennedy of Southwark |
Current Deputy Chief Whip
edit- Baroness Wheeler (from 2018)
See also
editReferences
edit- Chris Cook and Brendan Keith, British Historical Facts 1830-1900, Macmillan, 1975
- David Butler and Gareth Butler, Twentieth-Century British Historical Facts 1900-2000, Macmillan, 2000