Three-line whip
I know three-line whip basically means “you must attend” or “do as you are told”. I also know that it comes from Parliament. But I never knew the derivation. Tonight I consulted my Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. A three-line whip comes from the daily agenda distributed by the party whips which lists all the votes. The important votes are “underlined three times to denote urgency and requiring party members to attend the vote.”
Failing to show up for the three-line whip is considered very serious matter. A party can withdraw the Whip from the MP, leaving him or her isolated in parliament. This more or less leaves the MP as an independent.
I like it that some words with three lines ruled beneath them are so powerful.
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My Twitterfeed- geoff_bilbrough: Drogba gone. Di Matteo next. Don't wish people would leave well alone.
- geoff_bilbrough: RT @Simon_duncs: Last couple of tables left due to last min cancels for NZ spy valley wine dinner £40 all in wed 23rd With @bibendumwine ...
- geoff_bilbrough: RT @lu1820: celery sales in SW London must be the same or more as the rest of the uk combined #celery #Chelsea @chelseafc @RickGlanvill ...
- geoff_bilbrough: Stuck in traffic (@ Basin Reserve) http://t.co/OZ9OI0v6
- geoff_bilbrough: Game played in good spirit. Respect to both teams. #championsleague
- geoff_bilbrough: In Moscow it was at the Man U end too #chelsea #championsleague
- geoff_bilbrough: RT @OliverKayTimes: Penalties. In keeping with the spirit of the Munich final, presumably Uefa have already determined they'll will take ...
- geoff_bilbrough: Moscow. deja vue. At least it's not raining. #chelsea
- geoff_bilbrough: Has Malouda done anything since coming on?
- geoff_bilbrough: FFS Boswinga
- geoff_bilbrough: @BluesChronicle the sun is now up in New Zealand
- geoff_bilbrough: Oh my! You beauty!!!!! #chelsea #championsleague
- geoff_bilbrough: Forget about your hair Torres. You have 6 minutes #chelsea #ChampionsLeague
- geoff_bilbrough: Oh
- geoff_bilbrough: @IanRidley1 would have been my choice too
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