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
The following are lists of members of the House of Lords:
* List of current members of the House of Lords
* List of life peerages
* List of excepted hereditary peers
* List of former members of the House of Lords (2000–present)
* List of her ...
attend and vote in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
in the way desired by the party leadership. The two
chief whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes.
United Kingdom
I ...
s, 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
The Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in the British House of Commons. The group comprises the Labour members of parliament as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes ...
, to support the work of the whips' office.
The party leadership may allow members to have a
free vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamentar ...
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
Deputy Chief Whips
House of Lords
Current Deputy Chief Whip
*
Baroness Wheeler (from 2018)
See also
*
Chief Whip of the Conservative Party
The Chief Whip of the Conservative Party oversees the whipping system in the party, which is responsible for ensuring that Conservative MPs or members of the House of Lords attend and vote in parliament in the desired way of the party leadershi ...
*
Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats
The Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats is responsible for administering the whipping system in the party which ensures that members attend and vote in parliament when the party leadership requires a majority vote. Whips, of which two are appoin ...
*
Chief Whip of Reform UK
The Chief Whip of Reform UK is responsible for administering the Whip (politics), whipping system in the party which ensures that members attend and vote in Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament when the Leader of Reform UK, party leadersh ...
References
* 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
{{UK Labour Party
Organisation of the Labour Party (UK)
Political whips