What really happens when MPs vote with their conscience?

As the House of Commons agonizes over legalizing assisted dying, host Sascha O'Sullivan looks back at previous votes of conscience to find out what happens when MPs don't have the party whip guiding them. Alun Michael, one of the architects of Tony Blair's ban on fox hunting, explains how it took years to get to the point of a vote in parliament, and how his personal safety — and that of his family — was put in jeopardy. Former Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone recalls the same sex marriage vote and the internal politics between the Lib Dems and Conservatives during the coalition government — leading to David Cameron "stealing" the announcement from her. John Bercow, former Commons speaker, tells Sascha about moments in the Commons chamber when MPs went against the party grain during votes of conscience. Ex-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries describes how, as a backbencher in 2008, she led one of the biggest challenges to the 1967 Abortion Act. And Sascha also looks at decisions over war and peace, when MPs must wrestle with a profoundly moral choice and make one of the weightiest calls possible for a parliament, as former Defense Secretary Grant Shapps says the decision not to intervene in Syria in 2013 contributed to the global instability we all now face. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices