Whip

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Whip ( English for "whip", also Party Whip ) is a person in countries characterized by British parliamentarism who is supposed to ensure in parliament that the members of their own parliamentary group are present when voting and vote in accordance with the group leadership. It is his task to ensure factional discipline, comparable to the parliamentary manager in German parliaments.

Name and distribution

The term whip is derived from the whipper or whipper-in (whip, picor ) used in parforce hunt , which held the dogs with a whip in the pack. The voting specifications of the parliamentary group leadership, which are presented to the MPs, are also referred to as whips.

The position can be traced back to the English parliament of the 17th century. For the first time the practice is found in the sense of an admonition not to miss a vote, on November 25, 1621 by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore to Julius Caesar . The term in the sense of a permanent political function is first handed down for the year 1772, but the practice was already referred to in 1769 in a speech by Edmund Burke and in 1742 in a letter to Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham . The position of the Whip has spread to English-speaking countries that are in the tradition of British parliamentarism. In addition to Great Britain , the name can also be found in the United States and in Australia , New Zealand and South Africa . In the European Parliament , too, there is a whip function , at least within some national delegations .

Great Britain

The Whip system was introduced into British politics by the Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell . The tasks of the Whips include ensuring the voting behavior of their party members, informing them about upcoming parliamentary decisions and informing the party leadership about the opinions of the backbenchers . In the case of tight or unclear majorities, especially in a hung parliament (where no parliamentary group has a majority), the whips are of particular importance, as was the case last after the 2017 general election .

House of Commons

In the UK House of Commons , the importance of a vote is indicated by underlining the voting subjects in the group's circular. A single underline ( single-line whip or one-line whip ) indicates that MPs are free to vote as they wish. A double underline ( two-line whip , also double-line whip ) indicates that the MP is expected to vote as the party dictates. Pairing is allowed, i.e. agreements between members of parliament from opposing parties, for example in the event of scheduling difficulties, to stay away from the votes together (so that the voting result is not falsified). A three-line whip is given for particularly important votes. In this case, the MPs must appear and vote with the party line, with no form of pairing allowed. The disregard of the party guidelines with a triple underlining, even with a simple failure to vote, can lead to a withdrawal of the whip (parliamentary group exclusion ) or even exclusion from the party.

The Chief Whip of the ruling party is supported by the Deputy Chief Whip, other Whips and the Assistant Whips - a total of around 15 people. The Chief Whip is usually a member of the Cabinet , usually as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury . The other leading whips also get government offices; the Deputy Chief Whip as Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household , the next two Whips as Comptroller of HM Household and Vice-Chamberlain of HM Household . The remaining whips are Lords Commissioners of the Treasury . The assistant whips and the whips of the opposition parties do not receive any offices.

However, the opposition chief whip receives advance notice every week of the agenda items the government intends to bring to parliament, and there is no final decision on them until they have been discussed with each other. The dates for the individual questions are set together.

House of Lords

The same applies to the Whips in the House of Lords . The Chief Whip of the government is generally named Captain of the Honorable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and the Deputy Chief Whip is commonly named Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard . The remaining Whips, which are less numerous due to the decreasing importance of party discipline in the House of Lords, are appointed Lords in Waiting or Baronesses in Waiting.

United States

Steny Hoyer ( D ), current Majority Whip in the House of Representatives

See also: United States Senate, factional leadership and discipline .

In the United States , a party in both chambers of Congress , both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives , has a Majority Whip or a Minority Whip in addition to a Majority Leader or Minority Leader . The word majority stands for majority and the word minority for minority. The Whip of each party also are under Asked Whips at the regional level to the side.

The position of “whip” existed informally from the beginning of the Congress in the 1790s. The function was established as a permanent fixture in the United States' political system in 1897 when Republican House Speaker Thomas B. Reed appointed MP James A. Tawney to be his Whip. In 1901 Oscar Underwood was named the first Democratic whip in the House of Representatives; in the 1930s, the Democrats expanded the Whips post into a larger organization. Since the 1970s, the position has grown into a major institution, especially among the Democrats. It now includes around a hundred people, including 11 chief deputy whips and 12 deputy whips, as well as 70 simple whips, all of which are determined by the main whip; In addition, there are 24 regional and one permanently installed Whip for the Rules Committee as well as situational tasks, which thereby involve a large proportion of the MPs in the work of the parliamentary group leadership. The Republicans have one chief deputy whip and 17 deputy whips, as well as 50 regional whips in the House of Representatives. While the Republican faction voted their Whip from the start, the Democrats have only been voting for their Whip since 1986; by then the whip had been determined by the parliamentary group leadership.

The MPs in the United States are considered to be relatively independent of their parties due to the direct election in their constituencies (instead of the partisan list election ) and the largely independent funding of their election campaigns. Therefore, the influence of the Whip in the USA is significantly less than in Great Britain, but at the same time its function is particularly important to bring the MPs into line. Therefore a whip can exercise greater political power than the actual faction leader. For example, Tom DeLay of Texas was nicknamed "The Hammer" during his time as Whip the Republicans in the House of Representatives. He is credited with revolutionizing the US Whip system by channeling and regulating the previously unmanageable access of lobbyists to MPs.

literature

  • Sönke Petersen: Manager of Parliament: Parliamentary managing director in the German Bundestag. Status - function - mode of operation. Leske & Budrich, Opladen 2000, chapter The “whips” in the House of Commons , pp. 63–67.

Web links

Wiktionary: Whip  - explanations of meanings, origins of words, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ^ Sönke Petersen: Manager of the Parliament: Parliamentary managing director in the German Bundestag. Status - function - mode of operation. Leske & Budrich, Opladen 2000, p. 65.
  2. ^ Anne Milton: The role of the Whips in Parliament. In: Parliament.uk (English).
  3. ↑ What is a party whip and what do they do? In: Parliament.nz , June 27, 2013 (English); Party whip. In: PEO.gov.au (English).
  4. ↑ Chief Whips since 1994. In: caucus.anc.org.za, accessed on January 31, 2018
  5. ^ Karl Magnus Johannson: The changed meaning of the political factions. In: Ernst Kuper, Uwe Jun (ed.): National interest and integrative politics in transnational parliamentary assemblies. Springer, Wiesbaden 1997, p. 39 ff., Here p. 52.
  6. ↑ Glossary: ​​Whips. And: About Parliament: Whips. In: Parliament.uk (English); Whips. In: BBC.co.uk , October 31, 2008 (English).
  7. ^ Martin Kettle: The real winner in a hung parliament is whoever can see past it. In: The Guardian , June 9, 2017 (English).
  8. ↑ Party Whips. In: Senate.gov (English); Steny Hoyer : The Whip's Role. In: DemocraticWhip.gov (English).
  9. ↑ Party Whips. In: Guide to Congress. Volume 1. 7th edition. CQ Press, Los Angeles et al. 2013, p. 542 f., Here p. 542.
  10. ^ Republican Whips (1897 to present). And: Democratic Whips (1901 to present). In: History.House.gov (English).
  11. ↑ Steven S. Smith, Jason M. Roberts, Ryan J. Vander Wielen: The American Congress. 9th edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2015, section House Whips and Whip Organizations , p. 153 f.
  12. ↑ Party Whips. In: Guide to Congress. Volume 1. 7th edition. CQ Press, Los Angeles et al. 2013, p. 542 f., Here p. 542.
  13. ↑ Party Whips. In: Guide to Congress. Volume 1. 7th edition. CQ Press, Los Angeles et al. 2013, p. 542 f.