They are the joint fourth biggest contingent in the Commons, their total of 14 MPs the same as the Liberal Democrats’ tally. And they are certainly the most eclectic bunch, sharing just one thing among them: the lack of a parliamentary party.
Losing the whip was once a rare and usually brief event for MPs, the result of serious rebellion or significant personal misdeed. But this parliament has seen a bumper crop of “independent” MPs, as they are officially known. Among the 14 returning to the Commons on Monday after the Christmas break – seven Labour, five Conservative, one SNP and one Plaid Cymru – are MPs who have been whipless for well over two years.
The longest-serving member of this unofficial club is Jonathan Edwards, who lost the Plaid Cymru whip in May 2020 after being arrested for assaulting his wife, for which he was later cautioned.
All but two of the 14 have been accused of personal wrongdoing, much connected to sexual advances. While several deny the claims pending investigations, some fellow MPs speculate whether the stresses of lockdown and seemingly endless political turmoil have played a part.
Losing the whip means you are no longer in the formal parliamentary grouping, although you can sometimes remain a party member. The whip can be, and often is, restored, for example if an MP is exonerated.
Those without the whip live something of a parliamentary half-life, many faithfully voting with their party and relaying the same lines but banished from the club. They do, however, receive some support. Labour and the Conservatives allocate whips to suspended MPs who maintain regular contact to ensure they are coping.
The most politically serious repercussion comes if an MP is still whipless when a general election arrives. Barring restoration, they will not be able to stand for their party, thus making re-election very unlikely.
What is notable about the current crop is the variety of reasons for their banishment and the number for whom this has become a seemingly permanent state of affairs, at least until an election.
Edwards briefly regained the Plaid whip but no longer sits for the party in the Commons. There is similarly no apparent way back for the former Scottish National party MP Margaret Ferrier, who received a court penalty for travelling by train while infected with Covid in 2020.
In contrast, her former colleague Patrick Grady, was allowed the SNP whip again in late December, taking the ever-moving tally back down to 14. He had sat as an independent after parliament’s standards commissioner ruled that he had inappropriately touched a party staffer. Another long-term whipless MP, Claudia Webbe, received a community service sentence a year ago for harassing a female friend of her partner. MPs who receive a criminal conviction are not automatically ejected from the Commons (this happens only if they are jailed for a year or longer) meaning she remains in the job, much as the party – and some of her constituents – might wish otherwise.
The constituents of the former Tory MP Rob Roberts are in the same boat. He seems doomed to remain whipless after an independent panel found he made unwanted sexual advances towards a former staff member. He apologised, but has stayed on as an independent MP.
Perhaps the least repentant of these serving-their-time independents is Matt Hancock. The former health secretary claimed it was his choice to remain solo after returning from ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! and to stand down at the next election, a decision possibly helped by some local party activists wanting him to be deselected.
It is, in fact, notable that of the 14 whipless MPs, only one of them, Jeremy Corbyn, lost the whip amid at least partly political differences. Even so, there was a disciplinary element, connected to the former Labour leader’s comments about antisemitism in the party, which he refused to withdraw.
Corbyn also stands out as being the one member of the group likely to stand as an independent, and certainly the only one who could win, given his popularity in the Islington North constituency he has represented for nearly 40 years.
But for eight of the 14– being whipless is something of a state of limbo, as they wait for investigations to be completed, watching the countdown towards an election.
The allegations being examined are hugely varied. David Warburton lost the Tory whip after allegations of harassment and drug use, which he denies, and his former colleague Chris Pincher is being investigated over claims of drunken groping. Pincher said he had “embarrassed” himself and was seeking professional support.
Among previously Labour MPs, Neil Coyle and Rupa Huq, were suspended over comments they made about race, for which they have both apologised, while Christina Rees is accused of bullying. Rees said she would cooperate with the inquiry and was seeking details of the claims.
With three MPs – Nick Brown and Conor McGinn for Labour, and Julian Knight for the Conservatives – it remains unknown what they have been accused of. All have said they deny wrongdoing.
The investigations can be long, and are often cumbersome. The Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the Commons standards committee, has calculated that there are 12 separate bodies to which he and his colleagues are accountable. As well as his committee, these include the police, the independent commissioner for standards, parliament’s independent complaints and grievance scheme, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the Electoral Commission and the parties.
Bryant said: “One of the things we have pointed to in the standards committee is that MPs are subject to so many different bodies. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but in politics that can be particularly unfair to both sides because you might have a general election and the person is not an MP any more. We’ve been saying to the commissioner that things should happen faster, and I know the commissioner is keen.”
• This article was amended on 9 January 2023. An earlier version said that Claudia Webbe received a suspended jail term for harassment; she was originally given a 10-week suspended sentence but it was reduced to a community service sentence on appeal in May 2022. An explanation of the circumstances under which members would be automatically barred from the House has been revised.
