Bath’s Conservative former MP is the latest to claim he was warned local funding would be lost if he rebelled against the government.
Former Bath MP Ben Howlett | Library image
Ben Howlett, who wanted to remain in the EU, said party whips threatened to withhold funding to investigate a new link road for the city if he did not support key Brexit votes.
He was a new MP at the time but seasoned in politics and knew the whip did not have such power. He has praised the “guts” of politicians in a similar position who have spoken out.
Mr Howlett, who blamed Brexit for losing his seat in Remain-voting Bath to Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse, told BBC News: “When I was an MP, this was back in 2015-17, I was campaigning for a range of different things for my constituents. My constituents will remember my campaign on a link road.
“There were some very dicey votes for the government and I was campaigning to receive government funding.
“One of the tactics used to make sure I fell into line on some of the Brexit rebellions was to threaten the withholding of money to pay for an investigation into whether this link road should have been built.”
Mr Howlett, who is now in the private sector, said the long-discussed link road was the only way of reducing traffic on the east of Bath.
It would have connected the A36 and A46 to relieve pressure on the grade II*-listed Cleveland Bridge, which is currently undergoing £3.8million repairs and normally carries 17,000 vehicles every day.
Bath and North East Somerset Council wants to cut the number of HGVs using it and see the A350 made the strategic route. A government study is underway to consider the best north-south route.
Mr Howlett spoke out after senior backbencher William Wragg said MPs had been blackmailed over attempts to oust Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Chris Bryant, who chairs the Commons standards committee, said about a dozen MPs had accused party whips of threatening to withdraw funding or allocate cash to their constituencies if they voted the “right way”.
Mr Howlett said: “These aren’t new allegations. These have been going on for a very long period of time.
“It takes a huge amount of guts for new MPs to stand up and say these things are still happening to me and my colleagues.”
The former MP told Sky News that a whip said to him if he continued to rebel he would lose funding for the link road scheme, which was “frankly outrageous”.
“If the Prime Minister is trying to keep his own position right now he needs to be winning friends, not sending his lackeys out there to try to make a case for him, which is ending up backfiring,” he said.
“The evidence will come out. Frankly, an ex whip told me earlier on today, the first rule of whipping is don’t leave any evidence. It seems they’ve left a cookie crumb trail.”
Downing Street has said it would open an inquiry if it is presented with evidence to support the allegations.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
