The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term whipper-in as, "a huntsman's assistant who keeps the hounds from straying by driving them back with the whip into the main body of the pack".
In the debate of 8 May 1769 on a petition from some Middlesex freeholders against the seating of Henry Luttrell instead of John Wilkes, Edmund Burke mentioned that the ministry had sent for their friends to the north and to Paris, "whipping them in, than which, he said, there could not be a better phrase".
Although Burke's particular emphasis on the expression implied its comparative novelty, the hunting term had been used in this political context for at least a generation: on 18 November 1742 Heneage Finch remarked in a letter to Lord Malton that "the Whigs for once in their lives have whipped in better than the Tories".In the Parliament of Australia, as well as in the parliaments of the six states and two self-governing territories, major political parties have whips to ensure party discipline and carry out a variety of other functions on behalf of the party leadership.
The most important function of the whip's office is to ensure that all members and senators are present to take part in votes in the chamber (maintaining quorum and preventing censure motions).
[4] Unlike in the United Kingdom, Australian whips do not hold official office, but they are recognised for parliamentary purposes.
In practice, Australian whips play a lesser role than their counterparts in the United Kingdom, as party discipline in Australia tends to be tighter.
In the House of Commons, the whip's office prepares and distributes vote sheets identifying the party position on each bill or motion.
[7] The whip is also responsible for assigning offices and scheduling speakers from his or her party for various bills, motions and other proceedings in the House.
For instance, Fianna Fáil usually allowed a free vote on abortion bills, as in the Protection of Human Life In Pregnancy Act.
[17] Party whips in Malaysia serve a similar role as in other Westminster system-based parliamentary democracies.
Government whips report to the prime minister on any possible backbench revolts and the general opinion of MPs within the party, and upon the exercise of patronage, which is used to motivate and reward loyalty.
The role of whips is largely to ensure that MPs vote as required by the party leadership, i.e. to secure the government's business, and to protect the prime minister.
A former chief whip said that there was a dividing line between legitimate and illegitimate persuasion: "Yes to threats on preferment (for government positions) and honours.
Former chief whips disclosed that whips have a notebook documenting MPs' indiscretions, and that they help MPs in any sort of trouble ("it might be debt, it might be ... a scandal involving small boys ...") in any way they can to "store up brownie points ... that sounds a pretty, pretty nasty reason, but it's one of the reasons because if we could get a chap out of trouble then he will do as we ask forever more.
The move essentially expels the member from their party, meaning that while they can remain on the green benches, they have to sit as an independent MP.[20]""...
This means that the Member is effectively expelled from their party (but keeps their seat) and must sit as an independent until the whip is restored.
[25] Although South Africa uses a proportional representation system, the concept of a political party whip, which was inherited from colonial British rule, has been maintained.
[26][27] In 2017, African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe said "Voting according to conscience doesn't work in a political party system.
When voting for critical bills, whips may issue a top-mobilization order asking members to attend the assembly.
Furthermore, nobody, including members of Congress, can be expelled from a political party, which is formed simply by open registration.
[30][31] In the Senate, the position was created in 1913 by John W. Kern, chair of the Democratic caucus, when he appointed J. Hamilton Lewis as the first whip, while Republicans later chose James Wadsworth as the party's first in 1915.
[32] Michael Dobbs, formerly Chief of Staff for British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, wrote a trilogy of books, centred around a fictional party whip named Francis Urquhart, which was dramatised and broadcast by the BBC between 1990 and 1995.