Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Mercantile Marine. – in the House of Commons at on 30 January 1940.
Sir Archibald Sinclair
, Caithness and Sutherland
Would it not be a great addition to the burdens of Members of the War Cabinet, if it was thought that they were under any obligation to attend three meetings of private Members representing all three parties, instead of one; and is there not a precedent created during the last war by Lord Kitchener, shortly before he went on his last voyage, when he addressed Members of all parties in a committee room upstairs on the course of the war and created a profound impression?
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.
