So this happened:
.@rthonjennie has crossed the floor for some cross party petting pic.twitter.com/KP7Gen9YCb
— PARLY (@PARLYapp) March 19, 2025
Wendy Chamberlain, our Chief Whip, called Jennie in for a reprimand.
I can confirm @RtHonJen has come to see me this morning, she said she’s sorry and won’t do it again! https://t.co/Wj4JULc2vh pic.twitter.com/FNCf5VK10K
— Wendy Chamberlain (@wendychambLD) March 20, 2025
We now have an official statement from Jennie.
“🐾 Official Statement from Jennie 🐾
Yesterday, I may have… ahem… ‘crossed the floor’ in the House of Commons.
This morning, I had a stern meeting with Chief Whip @wendychambLD I wagged my tail, pleaded ‘puppy eyes,’ and promised to stay loyal to the Lib Dems. 🐶💛 pic.twitter.com/ejvWYewV6o
— Rt Hon Jennie (@RtHonJen) March 20, 2025
Update
After seeing Jennie being petted by a gaggle of Labour MPs, chief whip Wendy Chamberlain summoned her for a breach of party discipline. The dog was pictured looking sheepish in Ms Chamberlain’s office.
But party members have demanded justice for Jennie at the Lib Dem spring conference. They put forward a motion urging activists to acknowledge that “establishing good relationships across parties is a sign of grown up politics”. The motion also called for recognition that “Jennie is a good girl”.
The motion called for the chief whip to “publicly apologise to Jennie and to provide her with a box of treats as compensation”. Ms Chamberlain defiantly responded: “I feel I should point out that Jenni did accept she had crossed the floor on Wednesday evening so I feel my actions were justified.”
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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3 Comments
I hope Jennie pointed out that it’s not so long since we were in coalition with another party.
My own dog Millie struck up a friendship with a lady Tory teller when we were both collecting cards at a local polling station at the 2019 election! She’s a collie so I expected more intelligence from her 🙂
But more seriously, I nearly always get on well personally with people who like children and animals, the two usually go together, and regardless of political differences. That has to be a good thing.
Jennie also came along to Glee Club to reaffirm her allegiance, although when Simon Hughes took to the stage it was noticed that she appeared to have dozed off.