Chief Whip of the Labour Party
A 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 the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the way desired by 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. Each 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 on a measure, based on their own opinion rather than party policy, without requiring the whips to influence the way members vote.
The functions of whips are kept confidential, as they are concerned with the discipline of their party's Members of Parliament.
By convention, Chief Whips do not sign early day motions, table questions to Ministers, or 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 | |
|---|---|
 | |
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| Appointer | Leader of the Labour Party |
| Inaugural holder | David Shackleton |
| Formation | circa 1906 |
Deputy Chief Whips
[edit]| Year | Name | Constituency |
|---|---|---|
| 1935 | Wilfred Paling | Wentworth |
| 1940 | William Whiteley | Blaydon |
| 1942 | Will John | Rhondda West |
| 1944 | George Mathers | Blaydon |
| 1946 | Arthur Pearson | Pontypridd |
| 1951 | Herbert Bowden | Leicester South West |
| 1955 | Ernest Popplewell | Newcastle upon Tyne West |
| 1959 | John Taylor | West Lothian |
| 1962 | Edward Short | Newcastle upon Tyne Central |
| 1964 | Sydney Irving | Dartford |
| 1966 | John Silkin | Deptford |
| 1966 | Charles Grey | Durham |
| 1969 | Charles Morris | Manchester Openshaw |
| 1970 | Walter Harrison | Wakefield |
| 1983 | Norman Hogg | Cumbernauld and Kilsyth |
| 1987 | Don Dixon | Jarrow |
| 1995 | Nick Brown | Newcastle upon Tyne East |
| 1997 | George Mudie | Leeds East |
| 1998 | Keith Bradley | Manchester Withington |
| 2001 | Keith Hill | Streatham |
| 2003 | Bob Ainsworth | Coventry North East |
| 2007 | Nick Brown | Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend |
| 2008 | Tommy McAvoy | Rutherglen and Hamilton West |
| 2010 | Alan Campbell | Tynemouth |
| 2021 | Lilian Greenwood | Nottingham South |
| 2023 | Mark Tami | Alyn and Deeside |
House 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
[edit]References
[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