Does this look like a sinister party enforcer in action – or simply an MP doing his job?

8:50am Friday 4th July 2008

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THERE is no other job inside Westminster’s ancient corridors of power which harbours the sinister reputation of the Government whip.

TV dramas and suggestive newspaper diaries have cemented an image in the public mind of a vaguely menacing group of men who lurk around Whitehall’s more shadowy corners, bullying weak and unfortunate backbench MPs into toeing the party line.

For these ruthless Government enforcers, the working day is supposed to be a heady blend of threatening phone calls and political skulduggery, cynically calculated deals and perhaps the occasional knife in a colleague’s back stuck in for good measure.

But sitting in the Labour whips’ bright parliamentary office with Worcester MP Mike Foster, the reality being presented to me is not quite so exciting.

“It’s a total myth,” Mr Foster says amiably. “It’s all a bit silly, really. Look around the office – what we do here is manage people, that’s all.”

As a place to work, Westminster could hardly be grander – walking through the great wooden doors of Parliament every morning, each passing hour marked by the famous chimes of Big Ben outside your window – but I’m forced to admit the whips’ office itself is a little underwhelming.

It is very small and, well, very office-like. Computers whirr, a handful of people sit at desks answering e-mails and speaking on the phone. No one is shouting. If there are evil battleplans being drawn up, they’re certainly not doing it with me in the room.

“We go to MPs and we listen to their concerns,” Mr Foster says.

“Then we go to the minister and see how we can change a Bill or a piece of legislation, to see how it can be altered to give them what they want. We’re basically go-betweens, negotiators – personnel managers, really.”

And threats, he insists, are not an effective way of managing people you have to work with every day.

He says: “If you use the big stick with people, they’re never on your side again. The image is pure fiction.”

It’s now been just over two years since Mr Foster received the long-awaited phone call from Tony Blair offering him a Government post, and the 45-year-old MP says he has come to learn that the job is basically one of keeping the grinding cogs of Government well-oiled.

The 350 Labour MPs are divided up by region and allocated to one of the 12 whips, with Mr Foster currently responsible for liaising with dozens of MPs from the north of England – including former Home Secretary David Blunkett – as well as dealing with education legislation.

Debates and committee meetings going on throughout the day must be carefully managed to ensure enough Government MPs are in support and in attendance to win a majority, while regular meetings are held with the chief whip Geoff Hoon – Mr Foster’s immediate boss – to discuss everything from the current mood of the party to the specific parliamentary business of the day. It is not uncommon for Mr Foster to be working until after 10pm.

So what does he make of the oft-repeated charge made by his opponents that accepting the job of whip means he can no longer be an effective constituency MP? Always supporting the Government and not having your own voice in debates, the theory goes, means you can’t always stick up for the people of Worcester.

He says: “It’s just not true. Yes, as a backbench MP, I could stand up in Parliament and say to a minister, ‘You’ve got this wrong – change it’.

“Or alternatively I can take him aside as a whip and say, ‘Look, I think you need to change this or that’. Now, which do you think is going to be more effective?”

He points to the piles of constituents’ letters he deals with each day, the documents about development in Worcester littering his desk, his e-mail in-box overflowing with numerous messages from city residents asking for help on everything from wheelie bins to, well, wheelie bins.

Being part of the Government does not mean an MP can afford to let constituency matters take a back seat, he says – particularly not in such a marginal seat as Worcester (his majority is just 3,144).

He says: “Working a 60 or 70-hour week is typical. You do have to love the job. Missing your family is the toughest part, obviously. I’m away in London most of the week, and I end up attending all sorts of events in Worcester over the weekend.

“It’s not easy. But it’s been like that for 10 years – my kids have grown up with it.” And having a high-profile father in the local papers every day “can be tough for them”, he admits. So what’s the motivation to carry on after 11 years as Worcester’s first Labour MP? “There are still so many things to do,” he says, highlighting Norton Parkway and the ongoing university expansion as two key examples.

“And it’s the successes, like helping Worcester get its new university campus and its new hospital. You know you’ve played your part in helping to keep Worcester moving forward, and you know what a difference these things will make 10 years down the line.”