Chief whip Julian Smith faces fresh pressure in row over broken pairing in crunch Brexit vote

Under fire: Tory chief whip Julian Smith has been criticised over the pairing agreement broken during an MP’s maternity leave
Getty Images
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Tory chief whip Julian Smith faced renewed criticism today over how a senior Tory MP broke a “pairing” with a Liberal Democrat on maternity leave in a crunch Brexit vote.

Lib-Dem chief whip Alistair Carmichael stepped up pressure on Mr Smith to make a Commons statement on the situation, in which a “pairing” with new mother Jo Swinson MP was broken by Tory Party chairman Brandon Lewis. The incident has sparked anger among Tory and opposition MPs.

Mr Carmichael said that despite receiving a personal explanation from Mr Smith about the alleged mistake, he remained unclear about why it had happened.

The parliamentary tradition of “pairing” is where party whips agree that an MP will not vote, for example because they are ill, out of the country or on maternity leave, and an MP from the other party will also not take part to balance out the absence.

New mother: Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson was on maternity leave at the time of the vote
PA

However, Mr Carmichael told BBC radio: “Breaking a pair at 15-20 minutes’ notice is as bad as just not honouring it at all.

“To turn around [at] 10-15 minutes’ notice and to say ‘That’s it, the pairing arrangement is broken’ would in itself be an act of bad faith.”

Mr Lewis had abstained in a series of votes on Tuesday, during Jo Swinson MP’s maternity leave, but when it came to two key and close Brexit divisions, he took part.

Cabinet ministers insist that it was just a mistake that the “pairing” had been broken.

However, other Tory MPs are reported to have been told by Mr Smith to break their “pairing” arrangements with opposition MPs. At least one of them said he refused to do so.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley continued to stick to the Government’s line that it was an “honest mistake” and that the chief whip had apologised.

When asked if Mr Smith would resign, she said: “He has apologised.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in