Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Minister for Co-Ordination of Defence. – in the House of Commons at on 1 February 1940.
In war a system is required which combines rapid executive action with the maintenance of Cabinet responsibility and control. As the House is aware, the Committee of Imperial Defence is an advisory and consultative body whose findings on all-important matters must be approved by the Cabinet before they can become effective. Such a system is clearly unsuited for war conditions and, at the outbreak of war, the Committee of Imperial Defence was therefore merged in the War Cabinet organisation, a step which was also taken in the Great War. A number of committees of the Committee of Imperial Defence which had been required for peace-time preparation were likewise either suspended, or merged into other organisations.
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.
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.
