Plotting in UK politics has shifted from deep in the heart of the Palace of Westminster to secret groups on WhatsApp. Smoke-filled rooms for the 21st century — or that is how it is often portrayed.
The reality, lawmakers say, is quite different. Often devoid of policy or even political scuttlebutt, WhatsApp chatrooms are more likely to be filled with pictures of cats or dinners in not-so exotic locations, or comments on last night’s TV, than serious intrigue.
Use of Facebook’s app for encrypted, easy to set up chatrooms is rife in the British parliament.
There is a group for female Labour Party lawmakers, one for Conservative Party backbenchers, one for self-identified Labour moderates, one for Tories representing seats in the north of England and different groups for each new intake.
So WhatsApp has transformed British politics — just not in the way that is often imagined.
“Anyone joining in the hope of House of Cards-style plotting will be very disappointed,” Tory lawmaker James Cleverly, who was elected in 2015 and again last year, said in — how else? — a WhatsApp message. “The bulk of WhatsApp traffic is mundane stuff, like ‘Can you cover for me in a committee?’ or sharing photos of the parliamentary pancake race/dog of the year.”
Some chatrooms do have “genuine political debate” or contain urgent messages to reach committee quorums, according to Labour lawmaker Jess Phillips, who was also elected for the first time in 2015.
Others clearly do not.
“The best one by far is the one specifically set up to discuss Love Island, where we used slates and block votes for our favorite candidates,” Phillips said via — again — WhatsApp, referring to the ITV reality TV show.
Even the chatroom for the secretive European Research Group, which has gained notoriety as a power base for Conservative lawmakers — many of whom want a so-called hard Brexit from the EU — is less interesting than it first appears, one of the more than 90 people in the WhatsApp group said on condition of anonymity.
That is despite a logo depicting HMS Victory, the Royal Navy flagship that helped defeat Napoleon’s fleet in 1805, under a lion, a unicorn and the British crown.
No plotting takes place in the ERG/DexEU/DIT Support Group chatroom — to give it its full title — the lawmaker said.
Rather, it is a forum to discuss any Brexit business, and members include several ministers and supporters of a closer relationship with the EU.
Any sensitive discussions would instead be discussed in ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg’s office, the lawmaker said.
Still, it is an example of how groups can alarm those not included.
British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Gove’s allies gathered in a chatroom called Phoenix which, according to the Mail on Sunday, worried British Prime Minister Theresa May’s staff because they thought it represented a phoenix rising from the ashes and Gove’s plans to topple her.
It turned out to be the name of the pub they used to meet in.
WhatsApp’s use is not universal. Many lawmakers just do not like it, while some find it difficult to navigate.
One Labour Party candidate likened a colleague’s effort to a pensioner trying to program a video recorder.
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