[jambutty]

Much obliged for clearing up the point of who can and cannot suspend an MP from the House. I had a feeling that it was only the Speaker but I wasn’t sure. I am now!

However I see that you chose not to answer the question - Wasn’t one MP deselected for the same reason (refusing to vote on party lines) and he now stands as an independent?

A lot of votes in the Commons are not of mind-blowing importance (I'm sorry but it's true!)

It is rather sad that you consider a lot of the votes to be of no real importance. The votes will be important to some person or group.

and MPs do most of their work in committees well away from the bits you see on TV,

So all the decisions are made in Committee and the debate and voting is nothing more than a showcase to be rubber stamped.

There may well be little that the Whips can do directly if a party member rebels but as I said before there is more than one way to skin a cat. A word in the right ear and the rebel gets deselected after due process. Or put another way – vote as you are told or you could loose your job. Not that a Whip would ever say that I’m sure, but there are ways of getting the message across. On the other hand if an MP has aspirations of joining the Cabinet or becoming a junior Minister a hint from a Whip to say it may be possible would have the MP voting with the party if he or she was considering an alternative. The same system is prevalent outside of politics. Cross the boss and you don’t get promoted.

A 3 line whip means that you "have" to vote with your party,

What happened to democracy?