– in the House of Commons at on 21 June 1939.
Mr. J. J. Davidson:
asked the Prime Minister the total number of compensation claims made by the British Government to General Franco and the number of claims that have been settled up to date?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
A few claims, arising mainly out of the requisitioning of British property, such as motor cars, were presented locally at the time to the authorities on both sides, The great Majority of claims, as I informed the hon. Member on 7th June, are now being filed and examined by the Foreign Office; and those found valid will be presented to the Spanish Government as soon as possible.
Mr George Strauss
, Lambeth North
asked the Prime Minister the results of the representations he has made to the Spanish Government concerning the imprisonment of Frank Ryan?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
Mr. Frank Ryan is a citizen of Eire, and his case is being looked after by the Eire Minister in Spain.
Mr George Strauss
, Lambeth North
Does that mean that His Majesty's Government are no longer interested in this case? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the very strong feeling in this country?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
Yes, I am aware of the very strong feeling, and of the feeling of hon. Members. Our Ambassador has offered his help in this case.
Mr George Griffiths
, Hemsworth
Can the right hon. Gentleman give us the very latest news on this matter?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
I have endeavoured to obtain the latest news, but I have nothing to add to what I had before.
Miss Rathbone:
asked the Prime Minister whether there is any evidence of substantial military Intervention in Spain by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics prior to mid-October, 1936?
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
No, Sir.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
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.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
