Conservative MPs who have lost the whip or been jailed are the fourth largest ‘party’ in the House of Commons.
False. The Liberal Democrats are the fourth largest party in the Commons. The number of MPs who sit as independents is greater than the number of Liberal Democrats, but not all are former Conservative MPs.
A post on Facebook claims that Conservative MPs who have lost the party whip or been jailed collectively represent the fourth largest group in the House of Commons.
The post says: “I think I'm right in saying this, and correct me if I'm wrong… But the 4th Largest ‘Party’ in the House of Commons is ‘Tory MPs who have lost the whip or been jailed’.”
The post is indeed wrong. The Conservatives are currently the largest party in the Commons with 345 MPs. They are followed by Labour (202), the Scottish National Party (43), the Liberal Democrats (15) and the Democratic Unionist Party (7).
There are currently also 18 MPs sitting as independents, meaning they do not take a party whip. Some of them have lost the whip after being accused of breaching standards rules or facing allegations of misconduct, while others had it removed after they clashed with their party leadership or voluntarily relinquished it.
While it is true that, since January 2023, the number of MPs sitting as independents has been greater than the number of Liberal Democrat MPs, not all of those who currently sit as independents are formerly Conservative MPs.
Eight were—they are Crispin Blunt, Andrew Bridgen, Matt Hancock, Julian Knight, Mark Menzies, Rob Roberts, Bob Stewart and William Wragg. Of the other independents, seven are former Labour MPs and the remaining three formerly represented the SNP, DUP and Plaid Cymru.
In total nine current MPs have lost the Conservative whip, because the Reform UK MP Lee Anderson is also a former Conservative.
None of the current MPs who have lost the Conservative whip have been jailed.
It is rare for a sitting MP to be jailed, as they would normally have resigned or been expelled from the House of Commons before being sent to prison.
Such was the case with former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan, who resigned as an MP in April 2022, a month before he was jailed for sexual assault.
According to a 2019 research briefing by the House of Commons Library, the last sitting Conservative MP to be jailed was Peter Baker in 1954.
Some former Conservative MPs, and former MPs from other parties, have been jailed. But they could not be part of a group in the House of Commons now, since they are no longer members of parliament.
We have not been able to find other evidence that any current Conservative MPs have previously served time in prison. And there would need to be at least six of them if they were to make up the fourth largest group in the Commons when combined with those who have lost the Conservative whip.
False or misleading claims about politicians can affect people’s opinions of individuals, parties or how they choose to vote. We often see these types of claims spread widely online. It’s important to consider whether a post shows what it claims before sharing it.
Image courtesy of Paul Buffington
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because nine current MPs have lost the Conservative whip. This would not make them the fourth largest group in the Commons.
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