Mainstream parties must find new ways of enforcing party discipline to stop further erosion in support
4 min read
I have never really thought of myself as a rebel.
As for my radicalism, that is about demanding gradual change in a particularly, some might say, inoffensive, Liberal Democrat way. So, being sacked from the frontbench for defying the whip’s instructions to abstain on a Tory amendment seems like a satirist’s dream: ‘Lib Dem sacked for refusing to sit on the fence’.
It’s certainly not where I expected to find myself after a year of successfully walking a particularly tricky tightrope in drawing up new party policy on LGBTQ rights. But that contribution wasn’t any longer relevant when it came to voting, and I knew the potential consequences. The system is inflexible: you always agree, even if you don’t.
I want us to give people something to believe in, but more importantly I want to believe in it myself
What I hadn’t anticipated was the emotional turmoil I would experience when my needs, and those of my constituents, contradicted our voting position on an amendment I found offensive. Not, I have to be absolutely clear, with our party policy on the issue or with our opposition to government welfare reforms but simply with one instruction.
Although the response from members, constituents and people I haven’t heard from in years all suggest I did the right thing, my internal conflict over having put the principle before party loyalty persists.
My dilemma is, of course, not unique: so many MPs have recently found themselves in the opposite voting lobby from colleagues, resigning from frontbench positions or losing the whip. But that doesn’t make it any easier to explain.
Party loyalty in Parliament is about much more than discipline for discipline’s sake.
For me, it is about sending both a clear message to the country about what your party stands for, and reassuring constituents that you hear their concerns. That it seems to have become more difficult for so many members to reconcile the two is less to do with the internal workings of Parliament and more to do with a political shift.
Since I was elected, it has seemed that barely a month has passed without some internal conflict within the main parties. First it was Brexit and internal divisions, which led to the formation of Change UK, then defections from both right and left to the Liberal Democrats.
The following five chaotic years – characterised by a carousel of ineffective Conservative leaders – did nothing to fix these internal divisions. This parliament has been left with a vacuum where once there was power. Add to that emerging populist parties to both the far right and the left, and the fact that confidence in politicians is at an all-time low, and you have a perfect storm.
Who will fill the centre-right space vacated by the Conservatives? And how? Will it be the Liberal Democrats who swallowed up so many ‘safe’ Tory seats at the last election?
Whatever the long-term outcome, the immediate focus will be on positioning to appeal to disaffected voters who will decide the next election. This could mean more votes against the whip if they begin not to reflect the views that MPs believe got them elected.
This point in our political history requires leadership and consistency. Voters need confidence that MPs will be true to their stated goals.
Perhaps there would be more faith in us if the system allowed a little leeway for personal discretion; if punishment did not appear to be the automatic response to an MP’s principled decision; understanding that sometimes disagreement over tactics does not mean you have abandoned the common goal.
I want us to give people something to believe in, but more importantly, I want to believe in it myself.
Christine Jardine, Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West
