Derek Conway loses the Conservative Whip

David Cameron says:

"The usual procedure in these cases is to leave the punishment to the House of Commons authorities, however, having asked the Chief Whip to speak again to Mr Conway and having personally reflected overnight I have decided to withdraw the Conservative Whip from Mr Conway."

This is the right action to take, and whilst it could have been taken yesterday Cameron has still been much more decisive on it than Brown was on Hain.

2.40pm: The Telegraph notes that Conway is likely to remain suspended permanently:

"Although the decision is technically a suspension rather than an expulsion, senior Conservative sources said it was unlikely that Mr Conway would ever return to the parliamentary party."

Comments

[Unixman]

Good. With a bit of luck done in time to limit the damage that the procrastination was doing.

[abctory]

the right step, well done, but needs to look at cleaning the whole lot up, especially all those private dining clubs!

[MrB]

Good, now Cameron must use the prominent headlines on this evening's news to get across the message that our party will be different to Labour and act decisively on matters of sleaze. Pity about the one flip-flop, but the right decision hasn't taken that long to be made in comparison with Hain.

[Cameron Watt]

Great news!

[Andrew Woodman]

Imagine if Conway was chief whip and this happened.

[Steve R]

Yep, well done. We need principles otherwise we're nothing. Let's get rid of this loser and get on with the job.

[Bunny Blenkinsop]

Poor man. I don't see why we insist on paying them all these so-called 'allowances' anyhow. Pay them for stamps, paper and phone calls, that's it. Asking for trouble, if you ask me.

[cjcjc]

Better late than never.

Career politician (has he held any private sector job?) with snout in trough.
Who would have thought it??

[Northern Tory]

He obviously learnt something from Tyneside Labour in the early years.

[activist]

Fair enough. He slept on it - I don't think there can be much criticism levelled there.

No Conservative can be happy with wthdrawing the whip from a long-serving Tory MP. It's an emotional thing. But in the end he had no choice and unlike Labour recognised that.

What a contrast with Brown.

[Adam in London]

When he was out of Parliament 1997-2001 (having lost Shrewsbury & Atcham, but not yet succeeded Heath in Old Bexley & Sidcup) he was Chief Executive of the Cats Protection League.

[Dave]

Well done Cameron. Withdrawing the whip is the absolutely correct thing to do in the face of such blatant dishonesty.

Now let's see what Brown does with his growing number of miscreants. Very little, I suspect.

[Bill]

I think MPs'administrative and research needs should be met by civil servants. Similarly if they need a London pied a terre they could have a parliamentary equivalent of service married quarters.

[Bexie]

For the travelling MP's there is a case to take over the rotunda on the other side of the Westminster Bridge and turn it into permanant hotelling for Westminster people on business.

MP's/ Aides would then have to justify their stay with Black Rod's office before snouting it in Central London.

[Bexie]

But congratulations where congratulations are due. The man was found guilty, admitted his guilt, and is now without a party. The honorable thing now would be to take the Chiltern Hundreds and let an honest politician (sic) take the seat. There should be enough time to organise it to coincide with the Mayoral election.

[Inamicus]

Is Waterson next?

[George Hinton]

Good oh, shows he's not a ditherer, and can do tough decisions.

Hard luck on Conway, but his actions show poor thought process. Perhaps he was led astray by the similar actions of NuLab MP's.

[Michael Davidson]

Should have been done earlier.

And yes, I'm sure Waterson will be next.

[Cassilis]

Certainly the right move for Cameron but there needs to be some caution over trying to contrast it with Brown's behaviour - he may also withdraw the whip as soon as any of his MP's are censured.

As yet they haven't been.

[Serf]

having personally reflected overnight

and having read Conservative Home & Guido......

[Chris]

I imagine Waterson will lose the whip on a temporary basis, as that's what happened with Pelling.

[The Huntsman]

Hopefully that will have nailed the awful proposition that being a member of something called 'the Old Guard' renders one immune to action by the leadership.

No one will begrudge Cameron a night to think it over nor will he lose much by being seen to change his mind so long as the last decision he makes is the right one, which I believe this is.

Putting clear blue water between himself and Gordon Brown on such an issue puts the spotlight back on Labour worthies who have lashed themselves to the mast of the Gordon's ship and has set a benchmark to measure future Labour scandals by.

If there is now backbiting in certain quarters where this individual has been said to be popular, then I suggest they ought to check with their local members before engaging in any sort of whingeing: if the response on CH and elsewhere is reflected in the party as a whole they have no support for such at all.

Meanwhile Labour guns have now been spiked for tomorrow's PMQs where they will raise Conway at their peril.

DC will have done himself no harm at all with the public by acting decisively notwithstanding the rearguard action by the 'old guard'.

He will also win votes by a clear promise to sort out the whole expenses and allowances abuses problem. He could do worse than start with a promise to emulate the Scottish Parliament's system of putting all MSPs expense details online.(http://tinyurl.com/2ftwlv)

If it is good enough for them, why is it not good enough for the Mother of Parliaments?

[activist]

Oh that's right, a mere referral to the police is not a censure ::rolleyes::

[Richard]

Editor,

Perhaps you could look at the overall issue of MPs pay and allowances in more detail.

I personally would standardise the whole lot and do more to create a proper career structure for those who wish to dedicate their working lives to working for MPs. Too often I have heard people say, "so and so is far too old to be working for an MP" and so forth. Much more needs to be done to make the job more attractive and rewarding.

It would be far better if all pay and conditions were controlled by the House of Commons and that salaries were set. This would avoid situations like this, it would also prevent other MPs (mainly Lib Dems) paying their staff peanuts and expecting them to live in London. All the latter does is make it very difficult for people whose parents do not live in London or who have no personal money from working for a Member of Parliament.

[Mark Fulford]

I suspect that the opinions here and at Guido's blog helped with the overnight reflection, but I am pleased that we have the right decision after only a small amount of dithering.

Conway only has himself to blame and I hope he understands this and takes it on the chin, rather than engaging in bitter reprisals. Ditto Conway’s allies.

[Mike]

Maybe the Cat's Protection League will take him back? As an overweight feline himself, and the police sniffing around, he may need protection shortly.

[Mark Fulford]

A nightmare week for Cameron?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7215386.stm

[cjcjc]

Mike - The Fat Cat's Protection League?
Excellent!

[MartinW]

It was necessary to act decisively within a day, and I am thankful that Cameron has done the right thing in time.
CCHQ will doubtless have registered the virtually unanimous opinion of party members on this blog and others.

[Iain]

"Conway only has himself to blame and I hope he understands this and takes it on the chin, rather than engaging in bitter reprisals. "

Yes he's wholly at fault, for it takes a special type of arrogance to see IDS dragged over the coals about his wife’s employment, then blithely carries on in the most complacent manner as if the rules weren't meant for him.

[Andrew Woodman]

Fair point Iain. He was one of the 2 letter writers wasn't he.

[michael m]

About time

Cameron must now come on the media and show how tough he is and condemn Conway's conduct and that he will not tolerate this from any of his MPs

One of Blair's strength was that he acted and was seen to be tough on his way to winning the 1997 Election.

So come out Mr Cameron or else your oponents will only say you did this under pressure and you will be haunted by Conway right up until the next election.

Doing this means you can then have moral authority- if your colleagues or Conway's friends don't like it - tough

[Ian Makin]

It goes to prove there is an endemic problem in the houses of Parliment that requires an overhaul of the people in charge and rules governing theose elected to serve. What an example, lying cheating, stealing and we wonder why our kids grow up with bad attitudes

[HF]

Right decision.

I hope the Chief Whip is asked why we were so unprepared and out of touch with the party's expectations as to what the "right thing to do" was.

[Mark Wadsworth]

Good for Cameron.

[Josh]

Well Done to Cameron. In fairness to him it can't have been easy to take on a long standing MP but he really made the right choice. Very impressed, I'd love Brown to try and mention this at PMQ's! What a contrast between how Brown dithered and Cameron acted - considered but decisive

Excellent Day - Nothing could have helped Cameron more than to been seen ACTING against not just talking against sleeze.

[Paul Wakeford]

And if there are any others - same action. The days of the old indecision are gone - leave that stuff to Gordon "Milhouse Nixon" Broon...

[Malcolm Dunn]

I'm delighted. I'd echo Serf's post @13.42.Well done Tim. It would have been easy to try and spin this away,I'm very glad you didn't.
It's a shame this didn't happen yesterday but I think the right decision has now been made.

[David Parker]

Multiple sighs of relief, no doubt.
However there was still a palpable impression of dithering upon Cameron's part, particularly when an immediate suspension would have been amply justified.
Although better late than never,Cameron's decision can now be viewed as a damage limitation exercise, rather than an immediate and positive demonstration of principle.
Conway also now has an opportunity of limiting the obvious damage he has inflicted upon his party and his constituency by offering his resignation, however, should he not do so immediately, he will merely increase this damage.

[passing leftie]

Only when the mounting bad publicity outweighed his loyalty to his cronies did he act. The universal grassroots disapproval of this nepotism did it.

[Dale]

Well Done to David Cameron, he did the right thing (even if for the wrong reasons), Conservative Home's next scalp must be nigel waterson.

These people are an embarrasment to the conservative party and shouldn't be tolerated.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Passing Leftie,first Conway is in no way a crony of David Cameron,quite the opposite in fact.
Secondly you are hardly in a position to criticise given that so many of the leading lights in your party are up to their necks in corruption without any major public disapproval from Labour party members at all.

[Jack Watson]

Cameron took less than one day to act. Well done to Tim and others for no trying to spin it but I think its fair enough Cameron thought about as removing the Party Whip is a very big deal, a hell of a lot more than a slap on wrist.

I admit I was worried last night, but Cameron came though - acting with consideration and decisvely. Not easy.

Well Done Cameron.

(PS It will do his popularity no harm if it was listening to us 'the members' rather than some Tory old guard.)

[Surrey Boy]

It could have been worse - had DD won the leadership election, Conway had a good shout to become his Party Chairman.

[Tim Benson]

I'm very proud to be one of 'Camerons Conservatives' today. (never thought I'd say that out loud!)

Lets get rid of any one else like Conway, if they are stuck for a party then the Labour Party is always looking out for members with such quailities I hear.

Tim Benson

[Happy Tory]

Good decision. More politicians should do a bit of reflecting overnight. There's nothing wrong with adjusting your opinion as new information comes to light and circumstances evolve. In fact, good leadership requires it.

[Ellie]

Only when the mounting bad publicity outweighed his loyalty to his cronies did he act. The universal grassroots disapproval of this nepotism did it.

1) He acted TODAY, the story only broke yesterday, he was ahead of most 'pubilcity so thats not true.

2) Conway was FAR from being one of Camerons Cronies, the exact opposite is more true. Don't comment if you dont have a clue what your talking about.

3)If Cameron did listen to the 'Grassroots' then... WELL DONE HIM.

Your post shows why are still Ahead in the polls today. Get your own house in order. We'll be happy to take over running the Government whilst you do.

[Politico]

Cameron took more than a day to decide whether or not to fire someone for graft. Truly shocking.

Labour problems use private money - decidedly more seedy, but not as delicious for the media as using tax payers. Cameron had the opportunity to make this a non story - but no, his indecision and loyalty to the rear guard has cost him dear. Coupled with Waterson - a week of discontent is on the cards. I also fear for the lead in polls.

PMQ's is going to be even more of a drama tomorrow.

[Rob Reynolds]

Well said Ellie.

[Dale]

"Coupled with Waterson - a week of discontent is on the cards. I also fear for the lead in polls."

I fear for our lead too, Waterson must have the whip withdrawn at once, without delay. His actions have the potential to be infinitely more damaging.