Professor Philip Cowley wrote an article for The Times Red Box about the vote on no-deal Brexit. He writes: “Today’s relaxation of the whip is unlikely to make much difference to the way backbench MPs vote; the last few months have hardly revealed the iron fist of the Conservative whips office. But it will make a big difference to members of the government. To have whipped either for or against no deal would have provoked cabinet and other ministerial resignations. That is where its importance lies.”