Tory Whip Phil Twiss is claiming once again on Claire Wright’s blog (comment left on 22/04/ 14)  that he never whips.

He makes no mention, though, of the familiar range of ‘sticks and carrots’ that are used to produce an obedient majority that will rubber stamp key decisions. Incentives and disincentives include:

1. Patronage. ‘Juicy jobs’ (with bigger allowances) are given to faithful supporters or dangled before potentially awkward members.

2. Sacking. The occasional rebel is quickly removed from power. Cllr Stuart Hughes committed the dual sins of setting up an ‘in-depth study’ (Business TAFF) of the relationship between EDDC and the East Devon Business Forum, and of challenging the leadership’s aspiration to move the Council HQ from the Knowle. Predictably he was dismissed in May 2013 as chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and from all his other positions, because he was “too busy” according to Cllr Twiss. Stuart Hughes had a blunter explanation: he said it was the result of the “arrogant and spineless leadership” of EDDC.

3. Arm Twissting. Short of sacking, councillors who break ranks are leaned on by the formidable Mr Twiss. Tory councillor Mike Allen, former chair of the Local Plan Panel, is a case in point. At a meeting of the Council on 24 July last year, he accused the Chief Executive of “not having a grip on the Local Plan” and “not understanding” National Planning Policy guidelines. Mr Twiss sprang to his feet immediately to slap down the critic: the CEO must be right, he said, as “he’s a qualified solicitor, and you’re not!” Reliable sources report that, after the meeting, the riot act was read to Mike Allen. He has not repeated his criticisms, and, despite their severity, there is no reference to them in the minutes of the meeting.

4. Group meetings. Often, private, unminuted, meetings are held before big decisions are made to ensure that everyone is on side. For example, the Tory Group assembled in advance of the Development Management Committee meeting of 5th February last year to discuss the lack of a five-year land supply. The result was predictable: the docile Tory majority on the committee sat mute until they voted en bloc when the chairman decreed. They thus meekly endorsed a crucial element of the Local Plan which the Inspector has found to be unsound, leaving East Devon vulnerable as a result.

Finally, given the majority on the Council that his Party currently has, it is surprising that Cllr Twiss spends so much energy trying to discredit the opposition. The most indiscreet example was his insulting suggestion in the Sidmouth Herald  that Independents are invariably “single issue” councillors “holding back progress and directly disadvantaging their communities.”

We might expect a little more humility from the Tory whip, given that in the 2011 local elections he received only 813 votes in his Honiton ward. For comparison, at the same election, Independent councillor Roger Giles, whom Cllr Twiss accuses of rarely doing “anything tangible and beneficial for his local community”, polled 1546 votes in Ottery St Mary Town Ward.