Whips can often be brutal to backbenchers to secure their vote, and will resort to a mixture of promises, cajoling and persuading to force an unpopular vote. A whip should know major figures in an MP's local constituency party and the MP's agent. There have been cases where sick MPs were wheeled into the House from far afield to vote for the government on a crucial vote. Former MP Joe Ashton recalled a case from the dying days of James Callaghan's government: