Chief Whip faces second ‘lie’ allegation over MPS’ pairing arrangements
THE Chief Whip has been accused of “lying” to one of his own MPS after she was allegedly told to vote repeatedly during her maternity leave.
Julian Smith, then serving as deputy chief whip, is said to have informed Andrea Jenkyns that she had to vote in the wake of the snap election in June last year because Labour was refusing to “pair” with her. Under the convention, pairs of MPS on different sides of the house agree not to vote so an absence for illness, travel or maternity leave does not affect the result.
Because she wasn’t paired, Ms Jenkyns returned to London from her Yorkshire constituency repeatedly to vote during her maternity leave.
She voted more than a dozen times, putting her son in the Commons nursery from the age of 12 weeks while she was in Parliament or even bringing him into the chamber.
Labour subsequently claimed that Ms Jenkyns’ name was not put forward for pairing by Tory whips, prompting a furious response from Ms Jenkyns.
An MP friend said: “She feels like she was lied to, she’s absolutely furious. She was left feeling like they cared more about votes than people.”
It comes after the Chief Whip faced calls to resign as it emerged he urged Tory MPS to break “pairing arrangements” to avert a damaging Brexit defeat. Brandon Lewis, Tory party chairman, voted on a key vote on the customs union on Tuesday after being told to break his pair by Mr Smith. It breached a deal with Jo Swinson, a Liberal Democrat MP who is on maternity leave. Mr Lewis has apologised to Ms Swinson and insisted it was an “honest mistake”.