How to Use backbench in a Sentence

backbench

noun

• Could attacking backbench members of the House GOP backfire?
  — Erin B. Logan, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2022
• Then, a backbench lawmaker who had not even been invited to the ceremony pulled Trump aside for a selfie.
  — Aya Batrawy, The Seattle Times, 23 May 2017
• Johnson’s fate lies in the hands of his backbench MPs, 15% of whom — 54 MPs — can trigger a vote on his leadership by submitting letters of no confidence.
  — Time, 17 Jan. 2022
• Johnson reportedly came under fire at a meeting of backbench MPs for ejecting the rebels.
  — Adam Rasmi, Quartz, 4 Sep. 2019
• Now a backbench lawmaker, Abbott is among the most vocal critics of a clean energy target.
  — Perry Williams, Bloomberg.com, 14 June 2017
• Those close to her describe only one option as inconceivable: a demotion to the backbench.
  — Shane Goldmacher, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Aug. 2022
• The last 10 years have been generally brutal for the Democratic Party’s backbench.
  — Matt Ford, The New Republic, 10 Mar. 2020
• The likeliest outcome is that Gianforte will come to Washington and then recede into the backbenches of Congress -- never to be heard from again.
  — Chris Cillizza, CNN, 26 May 2017
• Seeing no chairs open, General Dunford headed for the backbenches, according to two people who were there.
  — Mark Landler, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2017
• Hunt said he was offered another job in the administration but decided to return to the backbenches.
  — Karla Adam, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2019
• His handpicked successor lost a primary this year to a backbench freshman state delegate.
  — Erin Cox, Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2022
• While neither study has been officially released to the general public, backbench lawmakers from all parties have been allowed to view them in a locked reading room.
  — Bloomberg.com, 6 Mar. 2018
• The process will likely take several weeks, determined by a timetable set by the 1922 Committee, which represents backbench lawmakers who are not on the government payroll.
  — Alexander Smith, NBC News, 9 July 2022
• Mr Netanyahu intends to be in that race as leader of his right-wing Likud party, despite his weakening position and murmurings of rebellion on his backbenches.
  — The Economist, 21 Nov. 2019
• May now returns to the backbenches of Parliament as an ordinary and not very influential lawmaker.
  — Karla Adam, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2019
• That could cost the quiet backbench Democrat Jerry McNerney, who might find himself a sacrificial lamb.
  — New York Times, 7 Dec. 2021
• That is true, and adding in budget payments and free movement will surely prompt further cabinet resignations and backbench rebellions.
  — The Economist, 12 July 2018
• Tom Tugendhat, 49, is largely known as an outspoken backbench lawmaker and critic of Johnson.
  — Adela Suliman, Washington Post, 7 July 2022
• And until now, the total number of letters has only been known by one man, Graham Brady, chairman of a group called the 1922 Committee, which represents backbench Conservative lawmakers.
  — Alexander Smith, NBC News, 6 June 2022
• As a backbench member of the minority party in the House, O’Rourke was not particularly influential.
  — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, 26 June 2019
• The prime minister is under pressure, especially after a big backbench Tory revolt on December 1st against his new covid-19 tier system.
  — The Economist, 5 Dec. 2020
• The package balanced his need to prevent another upsurge in the virus with a desire to avoid antagonizing 70 of his Conservative backbench lawmakers who have threatened to rebel over lockdown measures.
  — Mark Landler, New York Times, 23 Nov. 2020
• May has expressed her intention to return to the Conservative backbenches when her eventful and frequently agonizing residence in Downing Street comes to an end.
  — Rob Picheta, CNN, 17 July 2019
• The loss of two senior ministers and the anger among Brexit-supporting backbench lawmakers makes May’s position as leader increasingly tenuous.
  — Washington Post, 9 July 2018
• Labour’s leadership team has proposed similar amendments, and McDonnell suggested the party may get behind the Tory backbench proposals.
  — Bloomberg.com, 8 Mar. 2018
• The governing Liberal-National coalition, meanwhile, faces regular backbench calls to publicly fund new coal generation and export projects.
  — David Fickling | Bloomberg, Washington Post, 19 May 2019
• Corbyn, who spent his entire career as a backbench gadfly until unexpectedly winning a party leadership election in 2015, was criticized for silencing critics within the party and failing to root out anti-Semitism among his supporters.
  — Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2019
• One senior administration official who often sat in the backbenches of those meetings last week described Mr. Trump’s growing frustration at being hemmed in by his two principal national security cabinet members.
  — David E. Sanger, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2018
• With his Liberal-National coalition’s ratings trailing Labor, Turnbull was under pressure to sell a strong economic narrative before rumblings over his leadership from discontented lawmakers in his backbench grew any louder.
  — Jason Scott, Bloomberg.com, 9 May 2017

Last Updated: 24 Jul 2024