A FORMER Government whip from west Cumbria believes that allegations of Tory rebels being "intimidated" to boost support for Boris Johnson are credible.

Former Workington MP Sir Tony Cunningham spent more than six years as a Labour Party whip, serving under Tony Blair when he was Prime Minister and also his successor Gordon Brown.

He remained in that role when Ed Miliband led Labour in opposition.

Sir Tony has watched with interest as Conservative Party whips were last week drawn into the increasingly bitter dispute swirling around the Prime Minister following the Downing Street party allegations - though Mr Johnson is said to be confident he could defeat any no-confidence vote.

Whether that will happen is likely to depend on the contents of the much-anticipated report - due out this week - into No. 10 parties.

According to some press reports, at least five MPs have expressed concerns about the government threatening funding for their constituency or leaking damning stories to newspapers if they fail to back Johnson.

The Prime Minister, meanwhile, says he has seen no evidence of intimidation.

 

 

"The reason the whips exist is to get the business of the Government through the House of Commons," said Sir Tony. "You need a whips' office to organise the process of getting legislation through.

"I saw it as a two-way process: one was getting the business through the House of Commons, and the other was being a link between MPs and the Government.

"It's pointless talking to MPs if you're not going to feed that information back to the Government."

The whip's primary role, he said, should be one of persuasion, not coercion. Though stressing that the intimidation allegations are as yet unproven, he said: "I think these allegations are credible.

"There's a line which you shouldn't cross; and these allegations - if true - definitely cross that line.

"I think the Government is desperate and a desperate Government puts pressure on the whips office to deliver and therefore there may be a temptation is to cross that line," he said.

"There's a moral issue and a legal issue. "It's morally wrong because you shouldn't treat people that way; and potentially it's legally wrong because it's blackmail."

Sir Tony said his advice to his successor in his Workington seat, who also became a whip, was to "never burn your bridges."

"Next week, next month, next year, there'll be another occasion when you need to go to that person and ask for their support.

"If you shout and scream at them and threaten them on one issue they're not going to listen to you."

Carlisle MP John Stevenson said he has never been subjected to undue "pressure" by Tory whips during his parliamentary career. "I've experienced robust and legitimate debate," he said.

"But I've never been pressurised or subjected to threats at any point.

"I've always had a good relationship with the whips and found them to have acted correctly; and I have at times voted against the government but that  has never led to any consequences in terms of the funding available for my constituency."