A reshuffle of the whips office?

It is tempting to treat the whole circus animal affair in the Commons this week as just a big joke, the Palace of Westminster turned into the Palace of Varieties. Certainly, the sight of MPs vigorously arguing about the fate of four circus geese had a certain black comedy to it. But there might be at least one serious consequence of the vote, a reshuffle of the whips office.

In Tory circles, there is a lot of chatter about a damning assessment of the state of the whips’ office penned by former Tory MP Paul Goodman for the Conservative Intelligence website, an offshoot of ConservativeHome. In it, Goodman writes about the future of the current number three in the whips’ office, Michael Fabricant.  

‘Complaints about Fabricant come from many quarters: above all, that he keeps MPs hanging about the Commons unnecessarily when the Government’s majority is secure. Much of this negativity should be discounted as the usual grumbling. But even Fabricant’s best friends would concede that his zingy personality is not best suited for the role. Before Thursday’s debate, he sent an e-mail to Conservative MPs effectively blaming Pritchard for keeping them late in the Commons. Even if true, this was out of step with the buttoned-up traditions of the Whips’ Office. It is claimed that he will be moved on before the Commons resumes this autumn.’

I understand that several senior Conservative backbenchers intend to urge Cameron to move Fabricant from his current position. They argue that this is a necessary first step to taking some of the friction out of relations between the backbenches and the whips office.