The whips, the whips

Yesterday again we saw the elective dictatorship at work again, reinforced by the activity of the government whips.

Large parts of the government benches were empty during the debate, as far as it was a debate, only for labour members to reappear dutifully and vote as instructed when it was put to the vote.

Despite the fact that the issue was for parliamentarians generally and not apparently for the government, and that such arguments offered by the government were generally demolished, the whips effectively won the situation for the government. It took great courage by the 37 labour rebels to defy their whips.

What was at issue was the rights of all MPs, including putting into writing many rights which have been assumed from tradition. We can only assume that the government in its attempt to prevent this has something to conceal, and think ill of them for this.