Gordon Brown promotes Workington MP Tony Cunningham

By Anika Bourley Parliamentary Correspondent

Last updated 14:16, Monday, 06 October 2008

A west Cumbrian MP has been handed a promotion in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle – and now faces the tough job of ensuring the numbers add up.

Tony Cunningham: ’It is about making judgements all the time’

Workington MP Tony Cunningham is now “pairing whip” taking on the title of Lord’s Commissioner.

The job will involve deciding whether colleagues can be absent from votes and he can demand they return from anywhere in the world if needed. The job will not be done until the Government secures a majority.

Mr Cunningham was previously an assistant Government whip but has risen up the ranks to take over the important job of getting the votes through.

He said: “It is a very, very responsible job because the decisions have to be taken. I will be getting calls from MPs saying they need to be in other places and I will need to decide if they can be excluded and that is a big task. I am delighted to be staying in the whips’ office and with the promotion.”

The Workington MP takes over from Tommy McAvoy, the pairing whip since 1997 and the only person to hold the same position since Labour came to power. Mr McAvoy stays in the department and moves up the ladder to become deputy chief whip.

It was an agonising wait for many MPs this weekend, with the reshuffle only being finalised yesterday. On Friday Gordon Brown started the reshuffle which saw a return of Peter Mandleson to the cabinet, and Barrow MP John Hutton move from heading up the department for business, enterprise and regulatory reform to become Defence Secretary.

Lower-level ministers, including Mr Cunningham had to wait until Saturday to be advised if they had kept their jobs.

He received a call in the evening from Mr McAvoy and later in the weekend also was called by the Prime Minister and his new boss chief whip Nick Brown.

Mr Cunningham added: “When I was foreign office whip I fed my information into the grid for the pairing whip as to where people were going to be, but now I will be given all that information from other whips and will pull it all together. I am very happy to be able to serve in the Government.”