No one has their finger on the pulse in the House of Commons like the government’s chief whip. To make sure every bill gets through parliament unscathed, the whip has to understand exactly how every MP in the party plans to vote, what they’re thinking about the government – and work out how they can get rebellious MPs to change their minds.
But it looks like Theresa May’s chief whip Julian Smith has drawn up the drawbridge tonight. The man in charge of relations with backbenchers might just have had enough of talking with his own MPs. The government enforcer posted this picture (without caption) on social media at 9 p.m. tonight:
— Julian Smith MP (@JulianSmithUK) October 14, 2018
What possibly could the whip be receiving this many calls about on a Sunday night? Well, as criticism of May’s Brexit approach mounts, Mr S is betting the many Tories trying to convince her to change tack might have been enough to make Smith send out this bold statement that he’s had enough.
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