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) and Labour peers 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 whips.
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
YearNameConstituency1906David ShackletonClitheroe1906Arthur HendersonBarnard Castle1907George RobertsNorwich1914Arthur HendersonBarnard Castle1914Frank GoldstoneSunderland1916George RobertsNorwich1919William Tyson WilsonWesthoughton1920Arthur HendersonWidnes1924Benjamin SpoorBishop Auckland1925Arthur HendersonBurnley1927Thomas KennedyKirkcaldy Burghs1931Charles EdwardsBedwellty1942William WhiteleyBlaydon1955Herbert BowdenLeicester South West1964Edward ShortNewcastle upon Tyne Central1966John SilkinDeptford1969Robert MellishBermondsey1976Michael CocksBristol South1985Derek FosterBishop Auckland1995Donald DewarGlasgow Garscadden1997Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend1998Ann TaylorDewsbury2001Hilary ArmstrongDurham North West2006Jacqui SmithRedditch2007Geoff HoonAshfield2008Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend2010Dame Rosie WintertonDoncaster Central2016Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne East2021Sir Alan CampbellTynemouth2025Jonathan ReynoldsStalybridge and Hyde2026Anneliese MidgleyKnowsley
Deputy Chief Whips YearNameConstituency1935Wilfred PalingWentworth1940William WhiteleyBlaydon1942Will JohnRhondda West1944George MathersBlaydon1946Arthur PearsonPontypridd1951Herbert BowdenLeicester South West1955Ernest PopplewellNewcastle upon Tyne West1959John TaylorWest Lothian1962Edward ShortNewcastle upon Tyne Central1964Sydney IrvingDartford1966John SilkinDeptford1966Charles GreyDurham1969Charles MorrisManchester Openshaw1970Walter HarrisonWakefield1983Norman HoggCumbernauld and Kilsyth1987Don DixonJarrow1995Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne East1997George MudieLeeds East1998Keith BradleyManchester Withington2001Keith HillStreatham2003Bob AinsworthCoventry North East2007Nick BrownNewcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend2008Tommy McAvoyRutherglen and Hamilton West2010Alan CampbellTynemouth2021Lilian GreenwoodNottingham South2023Mark TamiAlyn and Deeside
House of Lords
YearNameFeb 1924The Lord Muir-MackenzieFeb 1924The Earl De La Warr1930The Lord Marley1937The Lord Strabolgi1941The Earl of Listowel1944The Lord Southwood1945The Lord Ammon1949The 1st Lord Shepherd1954The Earl of Lucan1964The 2nd Lord Shepherd1967The Lord Beswick1973The Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe1982The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede1990The Lord Graham of Edmonton1997The Lord Carter2002The Lord Grocott2008The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon2008The Lord Bassam of Brighton2018The Lord McAvoy2021The Lord Kennedy of Southwark
Current Deputy Chief Whip Baroness Wheeler (from 2018)
See also Chief Whip of the Conservative Party Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats Chief Whip of Reform UK
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