Part of War Situation. – in the House of Commons at on 9 April 1941.
Mr John Tinker
, Leigh
I am doing that, and I am trying to be helpful in this matter. The Prime Minister made a brief reference to Eire, and appealed to her to help us by giving us the use of her ports, and I think an opportunity like that ought not to be missed in the House of Commons. I have had a number of meetings on this matter in my Constituency, and I want to convey to the Prime Minister the grave feelings of Irishmen in this country about Eire. I want to assist him in this appeal which he has made this morning. I want to ask Ireland, in this hour of the gravest crisis in this country, to come forward and help us to bring about victory. I make this appeal as an Irishman in the House of Commons appealing to brother Irishmen to help us in this way.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
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.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
