MR. TOM IREMONGEIL I see, has been jeering at the
people who `read the Spectator in the comfort of their armchair on a Saturday afternoon' for be- lieving that he and his fellow MPs are a race of machine-slaves, compelled by the Whips to sus- Pend their judgment and vote against their con- sciences. The Conservative Whip, he protests, has not been withdrawn in the last forty years. Agreed, and why? Because they have so many other ways 19 bring strays to heel. For convenience it is per- missible to refer to the Whips as the dominant party force; but if they are, it is only because the Present party system enables them to exercise their influence in so many effective though unobtrusive ways (to take one minor example : the award of
expenses-paid trips to places like Strasbourg, for Council of Europe meetings, can be in the Whips' gift). Their powers have grown, are growing, and ought to be diminished.
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