Brexit from the back benches: have the whips become the straw men of British politics?

Last year, 15 Tory backbenchers brought about the government's first Commons defeat when they supported an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill to give Parliament a legal guarantee of a vote on the final Brexit deal. In light of the controversy that ensued, Peter Wiggins (Learning Skills Foundation) asks whether parliamentary whips have become the straw men of British politics?