Party discipline is one of the key themes of David Cameron’s reshuffle today. It is essential to bring Tory MPs, who have started to run riot of late, back into check, which is why Andrew Mitchell is now the chief whip. But I’ve spoken to MPs today who have argued that there is a far wider problem than the lack of an aggressive whipping operation.
The strongest criticism comes from Angie Bray, who was sacked as a PPS when she voted against the government at the second reading of the House of Lords Reform Bill. She is miffed that while she had to lose her job to vote against something that was not specified in the coalition agreement, Liberal Democrat ministers plan to vote against the government on the boundary reforms and then return to their jobs the following day (she’s not the only one: her fellow rebel PPS on the Lords reforms Conor Burns said something similar to me last month).
Instead, Bray thinks David Cameron has got one ‘last chance’ to set firmer boundaries with the Liberal Democrats:
‘I think it’s extraordinary that Nick Clegg should be keen to throw away a convention for ministers that has held for years just for this one thing.
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