This House

About the show

This House is based on true events that occurred between 1974 and 1979 in the House of Commons. These years involved very tense periods in Parliament, with the Labour and Conservative whips working hard to defend and remove the Government respectively. The February 1974 election had produced a 'hung parliament' (where no party has a majority to govern and pass laws). This deadlock led to the October 1974 general election, where the incumbent Labour government gained a majority of 1 seat – meaning that whips had to ensure every Labour MP voted whenever the Government needed to win a vote (which might have happened multiple times a day). This situation got more difficult between October 1974 and March 1979 as the Labour government lost MPs in by-elections and defections to other parties. The government was finally defeated in a vote of no confidence – by 1 vote – in March 1979. It is the job of parliamentary whips to win votes for their party, by tracking how many of their colleagues are going to vote and convincing (or threatening) reluctant colleagues to vote the way they want. Usually, when one member cannot be present at a division, the whips will attempt to 'pair' them, by striking an informal agreement with the opposition that one of their members will also miss the vote. As happened between 1974 and 1979, throughout the play, these relationships and pairing break down due to the tensions in the government with a small majority, or even none at all. At different times, both parties lost votes in circumstances where they felt that the other party had cheated the pairing (that is, the MP who promised not to vote had voted). Sick members were obliged to attend the House for their votes to be counted, and this was done even in circumstances where this may have contributed to their deaths. It is this tension, and the work it caused the party whips, which the play fictionalises.