‘Getting Rid’ of Anne Milton as Deputy Chief Whip Was a ‘Big Mistake’ Claims Fellow MP

Published on: 31 Oct, 2017
Updated on: 1 Nov, 2017

Rt Hon Anne Milton MP

Guildford’s MP, Anne Milton has declined to comment on a claim made by a Conservative colleague that the party had made “a big mistake” when she was moved from the whip’s office to a ministerial post in the Department of Education.

The claim was made on Radio 4’s Today news programme broadcast yesterday (October 30, 2017).

Anna Soubry, MP for Broxtowe (Nottingham), was interviewed by Nick Robinson on the topical story of sexual harassment in Westminster. Ms Soubry said: “There is a problem in politics. Many of us are fed up to the back teeth with misogynistic abuse…

Anna Soubry MP

Then, referring to the issue of how complaints can be made she went on: “There is another problem in all political parties and that is the structure of the whips office.

“So if you, as a member of parliament, want to make a complaint against another member of parliament it is very, very difficult.

“If people listening to this think about what happens in their own workplace and office politics and what a scourge they can be, and doing the right thing… imagine what it is like in in parliament where everything is politics.

“And so, in my party, we need to sort out the whips. And one of the big mistakes we made was getting rid of the deputy [chief] whip, Anne Milton who was absolutely on to this and doing a very good job.”

Although Ms Milton declined to comment on Soubry’s statement, when asked, in her recent interview with The Guildford Dragon NEWS, “Do you miss your role as deputy chief whip?” Milton replied: “I never miss what I leave,” also saying she was “thrilled” with her new ministerial post which is at an equivalent level of seniority to the deputy chief whip’s post.