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Government Chief Whips and Deputy Whips since 1945

What are whips? 

Whips are appointed in both Houses by each party in Parliament. They are responsible, together with the Leader and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, for arranging business in Parliament. In this role, they are often referred to as the ‘usual channels’.

The main role of the Chief Whip is to get the government’s business through Parliament, aiming to ensure a government majority in votes on its legislative and policy programme.

Whips frequently act as tellers (MPs or members of the House of Lords who count votes in a division and announce the result).

In the House of Commons, whips manage the pairing system, enabling MPs to be absent without affecting the result by pairing up with an MP from an opposition party.

In the House of Lords, the team of government whips speak at the despatch box, representing departments not otherwise represented in the House by ministers.

Information in the Excel file 

The downloadable Excel file lists Government Chief Whips and Deputy Chief Whips since 1945. Source details are available in the Excel file.

Parliament: Facts and figures  

The Parliament: Facts and figures series covers topics including elections, government, legislation, MPs and parliamentary business. 

Please get in touch with us at papers@parliament.uk with comments or corrections, or if you would like to access the data in a different format.