In addition to the indicative votes, last night also saw the vote to approve Theresa May’s extension of Article 50. Unlike the indicative votes, which were largely free, this was a three-line whip on the Conservative side.
We have compiled a full breakdown of the Ayes (150) and Noes (93) below, but before that is a more interesting list: the abstentions.
Now assessing these is a very tricky business. Some MPs are slipped because they are abroad. Others, because they are ill. Others still, for family reasons. Others yet are sometimes slipped because they oppose a measure, but the whips quietly give them the nod to be absent. ConservativeHome is told that this happened in some cases in this instance.
These are still remarkable numbers, even before you count the ‘soft payroll’ and start looking for Parliamentary Private Secretaries or Party vice-chairs.
There were 67 abstentions, and amongst them were not only seven Cabinet ministers and other members of the Government but also over half the whips office, including the Deputy Chief Whip.
From the Cabinet, we have: Alun Cairns (Wales), Liam Fox (Trade), Chris Grayling (Transport), Matt Hancock (Health), Brandon Lewis (Chairman); Penny Mordaunt (International Development), and Gavin Williamson (Defence).
Then the 12 whips: Christopher Pincher (Deputy Chief), Mark Spencer, Andrew Stephenson, Paul Maynard, Craig Whittaker, Rebecca Harris, Nusrat Ghani, Iain Stewart, Amanda Milling, Michelle Donelan, Alister Jack, and Nigel Adams.
What about the rest of the payroll? Another 11: Ben Wallace (Security), Chloe Smith (Constitution), Mims Davies (Sport), Chris Heaton-Harris (Brexit), Kwasi Kwarteng (Brexit), Robert Jenrick (Treasury), Jesse Norman (Transport), Rishi Sunak (Local Government), Kelly Tolhurst (Business), Healther Wheeler (Housing), and Nadhim Zahawi (Children and Families).
In politics, actions create reactions. We warned, when the Prime Minister decided to let pro-Remain Cabinet members stay in her Government after abstaining on a three-line whip, that this example would be noted and acted on elsewhere in the Government. So it has proven.
Abstentions:
- Nigel Adams
- Lucy Allan
- Stuart Andrew
- Jake Berry
- Jack Brereton
- Alun Cairns
- Maria Caulfield
- James Cleverly
- Robert Courts
- David T. C. Davies
- Mims Davies
- Caroline Dinenage
- Leo Docherty
- Michelle Donelan
- Jackie Doyle-Price
- Nigel Evans
- David Evennett
- Liam Fox
- Nusrat Ghani
- Chris Grayling
- Andrew Griffiths
- Luke Hall
- Matt Hancock
- Greg Hands
- Rebecca Harris
- James Heappey
- Chris Heaton-Harris
- Gordon Henderson
- Alister Jack
- Robert Jenrick
- Caroline Johnson
- Marcus Jones
- Julian Knight
- Kwasi Kwarteng
- Mark Lancaster
- Edward Leigh
- Brandon Lewis
- Rachel Maclean
- Anne Main
- Alan Mak
- Paul Maynard
- Mark Menzies
- Amanda Milling
- Penny Mordaunt
- James Morris
- Jesse Norman
- Chris Philp
- Christopher Pincher
- Paul Scully
- Grant Shapps
- Chloe Smith
- Mark Spencer
- Andrew Stephenson
- Bob Stewart
- Iain Stewart
- Graham Stuart
- Rishi Sunak
- Kelly Tolhurst
- Anne-Marie Trevelyan
- Ben Wallace
- Matt Warman
- Heather Wheeler
- Craig Whittaker
- Bill Wiggin
- Gavin Williamson
- Mike Wood
- Nadhim Zahawi
The ayes:
- Jo Churchill (Teller)
- Mike Freer (Teller)
- Bim Afolami
- Peter Aldous
- Edward Argar
- Victoria Atkins
- Kemi Badenoch
- Harriett Baldwin
- Stephen Barclay
- Guto Bebb
- Henry Bellingham
- Richard Benyon
- Paul Beresford
- Nick Boles
- Peter Bottomley
- Andrew Bowie
- Karen Bradley
- Steve Brine
- James Brokenshire
- Robert Buckland
- Alex Burghart
- Alistair Burt
- James Cartlidge
- Alex Chalk
- Colin Clark
- Greg Clark
- Kenneth Clarke
- Thérèse Coffey
- Damian Collins
- Alberto Costa
- Geoffrey Cox
- Stephen Crabb
- Glyn Davies
- Jonathan Djanogly
- Oliver Dowden
- David Duguid
- Alan Duncan
- Philip Dunne
- Michael Ellis
- Tobias Ellwood
- Michael Fallon
- Mark Field
- Vicky Ford
- Kevin Foster
- Lucy Frazer
- George Freeman
- Roger Gale
- Mark Garnier
- David Gauke
- Nick Gibb
- Cheryl Gillan
- John Glen
- Robert Goodwill
- Michael Gove
- Luke Graham
- Richard Graham
- Bill Grant
- Helen Grant
- Damian Green
- Justine Greening
- Dominic Grieve
- Sam Gyimah
- Kirstene Hair
- Philip Hammond
- Stephen Hammond
- Richard Harrington
- Trudy Harrison
- Simon Hart
- Oliver Heald
- Peter Heaton-Jones
- Nick Herbert
- Damian Hinds
- Simon Hoare
- George Hollingbery
- Kevin Hollinrake
- John Howell
- Nigel Huddleston
- Jeremy Hunt
- Nick Hurd
- Margot James
- Sajid Javid
- Joseph Johnson
- Andrew Jones
- Daniel Kawczynski
- Gillian Keegan
- Seema Kennedy
- Stephen Kerr
- John Lamont
- Andrea Leadsom
- Phillip Lee
- Jeremy Lefroy
- Oliver Letwin
- David Lidington
- Jack Lopresti
- Kit Malthouse
- Paul Masterton
- Theresa May
- Patrick McLoughlin
- Huw Merriman
- Maria Miller
- Anne Milton
- Andrew Mitchell
- Damien Moore
- Nicky Morgan
- David Morris
- Wendy Morton
- David Mundell
- Andrew Murrison
- Robert Neill
- Sarah Newton
- Caroline Nokes
- Neil O’Brien
- Guy Opperman
- Neil Parish
- Mark Pawsey
- John Penrose
- Claire Perry
- Dan Poulter
- Rebecca Pow
- Victoria Prentis
- Mark Prisk
- Jeremy Quin
- Mary Robinson
- Douglas Ross
- Amber Rudd
- David Rutley
- Antoinette Sandbach
- Andrew Selous
- Alok Sharma
- Alec Shelbrooke
- Keith Simpson
- Chris Skidmore
- Julian Smith
- Nicholas Soames
- Caroline Spelman
- John Stevenson
- Rory Stewart
- Gary Streeter
- Mel Stride
- Julian Sturdy
- Hugo Swire
- Derek Thomas
- Maggie Throup
- Justin Tomlinson
- David Tredinnick
- Elizabeth Truss
- Tom Tugendhat
- Edward Vaizey
- Robin Walker
- David Warburton
- Helen Whately
- Jeremy Wright
Noes:
- Peter Bone (Teller)
- Philip Hollobone (Teller)
- Adam Afriyie
- David Amess
- Richard Bacon
- Steve Baker
- John Baron
- Bob Blackman
- Crispin Blunt
- Ben Bradley
- Graham Brady
- Suella Braverman
- Andrew Bridgen
- Fiona Bruce
- Conor Burns
- William Cash
- Rehman Chishti
- Christopher Chope
- Simon Clarke
- Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
- Tracey Crouch
- Chris Davies
- Philip Davies
- David Davis
- Nadine Dorries
- Steve Double
- Richard Drax
- James Duddridge
- Iain Duncan Smith
- Charlie Elphicke
- George Eustice
- Michael Fabricant
- Mark Francois
- Marcus Fysh
- Zac Goldsmith
- James Gray
- Chris Green
- Robert Halfon
- Mark Harper
- John Hayes
- Adam Holloway
- Eddie Hughes
- Ranil Jayawardena
- Bernard Jenkin
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Boris Johnson
- Gareth Johnson
- David Jones
- Greg Knight
- Pauline Latham
- Andrew Lewer
- Julian Lewis
- Ian Liddell-Grainger
- Julia Lopez
- Jonathan Lord
- Tim Loughton
- Craig Mackinlay
- Scott Mann
- Stephen McPartland
- Esther McVey
- Johnny Mercer
- Stephen Metcalfe
- Nigel Mills
- Anne Marie Morris
- David Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Matthew Offord
- Priti Patel
- Owen Paterson
- Mike Penning
- Andrew Percy
- Mark Pritchard
- Tom Pursglove
- Will Quince
- Dominic Raab
- John Redwood
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Andrew Rosindell
- Lee Rowley
- Bob Seely
- Henry Smith
- Royston Smith
- Desmond Swayne
- Robert Syms
- Ross Thomson
- Michael Tomlinson
- Craig Tracey
- Shailesh Vara
- Martin Vickers
- Theresa Villiers
- Charles Walker
- Giles Watling
- John Whittingdale
- William Wragg