Wendy Morton: who is the Chief Whip in Liz Truss’ Conservative government, what is ‘the whip’ - has she resigned

The political landscape of Westminster is a fast changing one at the best of times. But as Liz Truss’ - possibly short lived - government continues to be met with incidence and controversy, things seem to be moving at an even greater pace than usual.

The last few weeks has seen sackings, resignations and U-turns (almost too many notable incidents to list here), and left the Conservative Party with a leader in which it has very little confidence.

One of the most bewildering events came last night (19 October), with a chaotic vote on fracking. Following confusion over whether or not the vote was to be treated as a vote of confidence in Liz Truss, there were allegations of harassment and the “manhandling” of MPs by top Tories to persuade them to vote a certain way.

The vote mayhem came to a head at the end of the day, when after hours of speculation about their whereabouts, Downing Street was forced to clarify that both the Chief and Deputy Chief Whip "remain in post”, following reports both had resigned.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What happened?

At one point in the day, Conservative whips said that the vote on allocating Commons time to discuss legislation to halt shale gas extraction was being considered as a "confidence motion" in Liz Truss’s beleaguered government.

But after a number of Conservative MPs indicated they would not vote on the motion tabled by Labour, climate minister Graham Stuart generated confusion by telling the Commons: “Quite clearly this is not a confidence vote.”

No 10 later said that Stuart was "mistakenly" advised by Downing Street that the vote should not be viewed as a vote of confidence, and that Tory MPs were "well aware" it was subject to a three-line whip, meaning any Tory MP who rebelled could be thrown out of the parliamentary party.

Come the vote itself, cabinet ministers Therese Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among a group of top Conservatives accused of pressing colleagues to vote "no" amid spectacular scenes at Westminster. Former Labour minister Chris Bryant claimed that some MPs were “physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied”.

Business Secretary Rees-Mogg said he saw no evidence of anyone being manhandled, but senior Tory MP Sir Charles Walker called the incident "inexcusable" and a "pitiful reflection on the Conservative Parliamentary Party."

Who is the Chief Whip?

Wendy Morton is the government Chief Whip, a Conservative Party politician who has served as the MP for Aldridge-Brownhills in the West Midlands since 2015.

She was appointed to the role on 6 September 2022 by Prime Minister Liz Truss, whom she had supported to become Conservative leader over the summer.

A whip is a political party official whose job it is to maintain party discipline by ensuring party members vote in accordance with the party platform, rather than their own personal ideologies or the wishes of their donors or constituents.

They make every effort to guarantee that their political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote in accordance with their party’s official policies. Members who vote against party policy risk "losing the whip," or being expelled from the party.

Did Wendy Morton resign?

Just before 8pm on 19 October, Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News he was “not entirely clear what the situation is with the chief whip” amid “very strong rumours” Morton had resigned sweeping through the Commons. Widespread reporting followed that Morton, having been undermined, quit as MPs were filing through the voting lobbies.

It took two hours for Downing Street to issue a clarification on the matter, confirming that both Morton and Deputy Chief Whip Craig Whittaker remained in post.

This morning (20 October), Morton was seen greeting journalists with a cheerful “morning” as she left Downing Street.

While both Morton and Whittaker remain in their positions, there has been some speculation on whether the pair did in fact quit, but were convinced to rescind their resignations after the fact.

When pressed on whether Morton resigned at any time and then was convinced to return to her post, Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “Not that I’m aware of, no.”