Talk:Crossing the floor

Comment
I think it should be mentioned that in the Australian constitution at least, and probably in others, it is illegal for a party to coerce a member into voting either for or against any specific motion.


 * I would agree; such is also the case in Canada — however, not constitutionally. FiveParadox 04:05, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

List of Australian politicians who've crossed the floor?
I see the Canadians have a list of politicians who have crossed the floor. Would be lovely to see such a list for Australian pollies. Wouldn't be a long list!

On the same note, I imagine the info could be extracted from They Work For you for the UK.

Definition
crossing the floor is to vote against party lines

Which countries is this true for? Here in the UK "crossing the floor" more normally means an MP who changes party. Timrollpickering 02:04, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Ethics
What about the ethics surrounding political defections? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.133.60.128 (talk) 20:49, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Aye can be opposition motion
It is not true (in the UK) that the government always votes Aye and the Opposition generally votes No. Government MPs are sometimes whipped to vote No on opposition motions, back bencher's bills etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.58.195.85 (talk) 21:18, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Untrue statement
"An MP who switched parties would literally need to cross the floor. A notable example of the latter is Winston Churchill, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals in 1904, before later crossing back in 1924." Is the word "literally" being misused here? It is clearly not true that a Commons member who switches parties needs to literally cross the floor... because the MP could switch parties while the Commons isn't in session, or overnight, etc. So the first sentence is untrue (or at least the word "literally" is wrong). The second sentence implies that Winston Churchill literally crossed the floor. Do we know whether this is true or whether he changed parties whilst not physically present in the Chamber, thus not needing to cross the floor? 86.174.248.89 (talk) 18:00, 11 June 2017 (UTC)
 * I agree, it's not very good wording. Let's see if we can improve it... --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 21:29, 11 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Have any British MPs been anecdotally reported to literally cross the floor of the chamber, or would this be an act that would incur disciplinary intervention from the Speaker?Cloptonson (talk) 20:20, 17 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I mean, Phillip Lee memorably did this just a few years ago. Frickeg (talk) 20:43, 17 November 2021 (UTC)