Labour and Tory MPs were whipped into staying in London this morning for the tetchy debate on the spare room subsidy currently taking place in parliament. Even the Prime Mentalist has managed to turn up:
Tory whips text to warn MPs: "Labour are clearly here in numbers (including Gordon Brown) so we are expecting multiple divisions today"
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) September 5, 2014
Three people in particular are conspicuous by their absence. The Deputy Prime Minister is nowhere to be seen. Neither is Danny Alexander. And what about Steve Webb, who is actually a minister in the department and who has at every previous opportunity stood by the policy the LibDems are now calling the bedroom ‘tax’ in a vain attempt to avoid electoral annihilation. Conveniently, Guido understands, they are up in Scotland…
UPDATE:
I'm cancelling my meetings today to go to vote for the Lib Dem bill to fix the Tories' unfair bedroom tax. http://t.co/xIt9UTTmSF
— Vince Cable (@vincecable) September 5, 2014
Hear Steve Webb is in town and will be there to vote. Can't vote against the government and remain a DWP minister…
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) September 5, 2014