Oral Answers to Questions — Employment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 4 February 1947.
OTHER TRADES: Agricultural blacksmiths, agricultural machinery repair litters, bakery, basket making, boot and shoe making, boot and shoe repairing, brick and tile making, canteen cooking, clerical and commercial, commercial art, comptometer operating, cotton spinning, cotton weaving, diamond polishing, dressmaking, electricians, engineering (draughtsmanship, instrument making, sheet metal workers), welding (electric), welding (oxy acetylene), furniture (cabinet making, upholstery, wood finishing), gas fitting, glass process working, glove cutting, hairdressing, hosiery, hotel cooking, hotel waiting, leather belting, leather goods (heavy), leather goods (light), medical auxiliaries, monumental masons, motor mechanics, neon signs, optical mechanics, piano making, pottery, printing, radio mechanics, retail distribution, saddlery and harness making, shorthand typists, store-keeping, surgical instrument making, tailoring, taxi driving, typewriter mechanics, watch and clock repairs, woollens (weaving, etc.), Scottish.
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.
