Whip (politics)

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A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline (that members of the party vote according to the party platform rather than their individual beliefs or that of donors or constituents) in a legislature.

Whips are the party's "enforcers". They work to ensure that their fellow political party legislators attend voting sessions and vote according to their party's official policy. Members who vote against party policy may "lose the whip", being expelled from the party.

The term is said to be taken from the "whipper-in" during a hunt, who tries to prevent hounds from wandering away from a hunting pack. The term may more reasonably have been taken from the practice of "keeping discipline" in slaves by cracking a leather whip over their heads^[1].

Additionally, the term "whip" may mean the voting instructions issued to legislators,^[2] or the status of a certain legislator in their party's parliamentary grouping.