Chief Whip in the context of "Downing Street"

The Leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The Leader is always a member or attendee of the cabinet of the United Kingdom.

The House of Commons devotes approximately three-quarters of its time to debating and explaining government business, such as bills introduced by the government and ministerial statements. The Leader of the House of Commons, with the parties' chief whips ("the usual channels"), is responsible for organising government business and providing time for non-government (backbench) business to be put before the House of Commons.

The Conservative–DUP agreement was a confidence and supply agreement between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) following the 2017 general election which resulted in a hung parliament. Negotiations between the two parties began on 9 June, the day after the election, and the final agreement was signed and published on 26 June 2017.

The agreement, signed by the two parties' chief whips, Gavin Williamson for the Conservatives and Jeffrey Donaldson for the DUP, secured DUP Confidence and supply support for a Conservative minority government led by Theresa May.

Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian and later Zimbabwean politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first leader to be born and raised in Rhodesia, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 in opposition to their demands for the implementation of majority rule as a condition for independence. His 15 years in power were defined by the country's international isolation and involvement in the Rhodesian Bush War, which pitted the Rhodesian Security Forces against the Soviet and Chinese-funded military wings of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU).

Smith was born to British settlers in the small town of Selukwe located in the Southern Rhodesian Midlands, four years before the colony became self-governing in 1923. During the Second World War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, where a crash in Egypt resulted in facial and bodily wounds that remained conspicuous for the rest of his life. Following recovery, he served in Europe, where he was shot down and subsequently fought alongside Italian partisans. After the war, he established a farm in his hometown in 1948 and became a Member of Parliament for Selukwe that year. Originally a member of the Liberal Party, he defected to the United Federal Party in 1953, and served as Chief Whip from 1958 onwards. He left that party in 1961 in protest over the territory's new constitution, and went on to co-found the Rhodesian Front the following year.

Jacqueline Jill Smith, Baroness Smith of Malvern PC (born 3 November 1962) is a British politician, broadcaster and life peer who has been serving as Minister of State for Skills since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. Smith previously served as Home Secretary under Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2009, and was the first woman to hold the position.

Smith was born and raised in Malvern, Worcestershire. She attended Hertford College, Oxford, before training to become a teacher at Worcester College of Higher Education and having a career as an economics and business studies teacher. She was elected for Redditch at the 1997 general election. She joined the government in 1999 and served in a series of ministerial positions under Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the 2006 cabinet reshuffle she was promoted to Chief Whip.

Dominic Mckenzie Cummings (born 25 November 1971) is a British political strategist who served as Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 24 July 2019 until he resigned on 13 November 2020.

From 2007 to 2014, he was a special adviser to Michael Gove, including the time that Gove served as Education Secretary, leaving when Gove was made Chief Whip in a cabinet reshuffle. From 2015 to 2016, Cummings was director of Vote Leave, an organisation which successfully executed the 2016 referendum campaign for Britain's exit from the European Union. After Johnson was appointed prime minister in July 2019, Cummings was appointed as Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister. Cummings had a contentious relationship with Chancellor Sajid Javid which culminated in Javid's resignation in February 2020 after he refused to comply with Cummings's request to dismiss his special advisers.

Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character who is the villain protagonist of the British political thriller television serial House of Cards (1990) and its sequel serials, To Play the King (1993) and The Final Cut (1995). He is portrayed by Ian Richardson. The series was co-written by Michael Dobbs and adapted from his eponymous novel. Produced by the BBC, the 4 episodes of House of Cards were broadcast in the days preceding and following Margaret Thatcher’s resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1990. Urquhart is a member of the Conservative Party, and is known to be a ruthless, Machiavellian politician who rises from Chief Whip of the Conservative Party to the office of prime minister through much treachery, deception, and murder. His wife, Elizabeth Urquhart, often persuades him to exploit a given situation to his advantage.

Urquhart's family has roots in the Scottish aristocracy. He served in the British Army in Cyprus for three years. After resigning his commission, Urquhart studies at the University of Oxford. Turning to politics later, Urquhart joined the Conservative Party and became the MP for the constituency of New Forest in 1974. He served in several ministerial positions before becoming Chief Whip in 1987. Some of Urquhart's dialogue throughout the series is presented in a direct address to the viewer, a narrative technique that breaks the fourth wall. These narrative asides are an invention of the television adaptation, as the novel uses third-person narration only.