| He is the undisputed backbench champion of the well-publicized empty gesture. |
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| The whip passes on to the party leadership the opinions of backbench members. |
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| Mr Blunkett's whistle-stop tour of the country as Mr Blair's backbench envoy will see him visit eight regions between now and the end of March. |
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| He appealed to the backbench country gentlemen, whose prejudices he shared. |
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| Usually when a minister's backbench committee opposes or has serious concerns about a plan, it triggers a rethink. |
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| Labor leader Kim Beazley initially opposed the private members' bills proposed by the backbench Liberals. |
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| Tuesday it was Lindsay Tanner's turn to spit the dummy and head for the backbench. |
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| As the system now works, most Canadians elect a backbench member of Parliament, not a cabinet minister. |
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| This will be a fractious and unstable government, riven by internal factional struggles and backbench rebellions. |
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| Backbench dissidents feared for their political future due to the cavalier actions of some ministers. |
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| Now he is his own man, hardened and scarred by backbench rebellions, geopolitical scraps and a hostile media firing on him from both left and right. |
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| A potential Labour backbench revolt over the Government's plans for faith schools was delayed last night by a Commons row over alleged vote-rigging. |
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| Nor do expense allowances that are generous to a fault amount to proof positive that every backbench MP would, given the chance, rob the poor box in the local parish church. |
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| Not one backbench Labour MP spoke in the government's support. |
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| It seems to me that the way modern politics works, the Prime Minister of the day is very reliant on his ministers and backbench for policy support. |
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| Eddie's going to show Carr what was lost by shunting him to the backbench. |
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| But Alun Michael, the rural affairs minister, and the whips gradually persuaded backbench MPs to vote to offer the compromise to peers one more time. |
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| So, the sloganeers have found common cause with the nervous backbench nobodies and the jilted ex-Ministers in the pursuit of lowest common denominator personality politics. |
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| Gateshead MP Ian Mearns is to lead the Backbench Business Committee, which helps decide which issues are debated in the Commons. |
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| In fall 1984, Brian Mulroney led a cabinet with far more political experience than the Conservative backbench. |
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| His spacious quarters indicate his transition from backbench upstart to established member of the governing team. |
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| As with PMQs, the official opposition spokesmen are allocated a number of questions, and in addition backbench MPs are free to ask questions. |
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| He imposed a three line whip on what started out as a backbench debate on European Union membership. |
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| In 1992, the Conservative government under John Major ratified it, against the opposition of his backbench Maastricht Rebels. |
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| The relaunch comes after a backbench revolt over his refusal to build new grammar schools and a cave-in on axeing free admission to museums. |
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| Many backbench Labour MPs advanced the claims of Michael Martin. |
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| Backbench MPs wishing to ask a question must enter their names on the Order Paper. |
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