From the magazine

The punishing life of a chief whip

Simon Hart describes his frustrations as he grapples with the rivalries and petty jealousies of colleagues lobbying for peerages and knighthoods as the Tory party implodes

Declan Lyons
Simon Hart leaving a cabinet meeting at Downing Street in May last year.  Wiktor Szymanowicz/ Future Publishing via Getty Images
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 08 March 2025
issue 08 March 2025

For many Spectator readers, their only exposure to the workings of the Whips’ Office will be through the machinations of Francis Urquhart, Michael Dobbs’s fictional chief whip made famous in House of Cards. In the first diaries published by a former chief whip, Simon Hart aims to shine a light on the vital and often unrecognised role that the Whips’ Office plays in the functioning of parliament and government.

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