Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Transport Secretary, has been asked to explain what happened in last night’s chaotic fracking vote.
Tory whips said it was being treated as a vote of confidence, then a minister said no and then early this morning No 10 said yes.
Ms Trevelyan said: “It was a three-line whip, it remained a three-line whip throughout that there is a very clear statement of direction from the Whip’s office.”
Asked whether the more than 30 Tory MPs who abstained will now lose the whip, Trevelyan said “we need to allow the whips today to speak to those colleagues who have been unable to vote as suggested by the whip of three lines”.
Asked again if they will lose the whip, she said: “That is for the party managers to decide…”.