Oral Answers to Questions — Naval and Military Pensions and Grants. – in the House of Commons at on 14 February 1924.
Mr Ronald McNeill
, Canterbury
(by Private Notice) asked the Prime Minister whether it was with his approval that the name of the Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs was mentioned by a member of the Cabinet in Another place and his authority quoted in regard to negotiations with a foreign Power whether there is any precedent for attributing responsibility to permanent officials in the Civil Service, and whether he can give an assurance that this unconstitutional practice will be discontinued?
Mr Arthur Ponsonby
, Sheffield, Brightside
The Lord President of the Council was quoting from a document which had been furnished to him by the Foreign Office for the purpose of meeting points raised in the Debate in the House of Lords. Lord Parmoor did not consult the Prime Minister in advance as to the propriety of referring to the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office, but the Prime Minister has no doubt that, Lord Parmoor's attention having been called to the constitutional practice in this matter, referred to by the right hon. Gentleman, he will bear it in mind in future. The Prime Minister has received a letter from Lord Parmoor expressing regret at this inadvertence.
Mr George Buchanan
, Glasgow Gorbals
Does not that answer show the mistake of the Labour party in bringing Tories into the Government?
During a debate members of the House of Commons traditionally refer to the House of Lords as 'another place' or 'the other place'.
Peers return the gesture when they speak of the Commons in the same way.
This arcane form of address is something the Labour Government has been reviewing as part of its programme to modernise the Houses of Parliament.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
