Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Commerce – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 June 1945.
Mr. Murray:
Is the Minister aware that his answer makes the position still more ridiculous? It does happen to be a question of teats. I have a letter saying that a woman has given birth to twins, and that she is unable to feed these two children. She has four bottles in the house, with one teat. [Laughter.] Hon. Members need not laugh. They ought to be in the homes of some of these people. Is the Minister aware that I saw these two children yesterday, and the mother told me that she had to scrape the teat of the bottle before she could feed the other children? What is the Minister going to do about a thing like that?
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.
