– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 June 1964.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
12:00,
18 June 1964
asked the Prime Minister if he will define the phrase, political services, as it is used by him in preparing his list for honours.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
Like my predecessors, I have adopted the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee's interpretation, namely, "service to a political party".
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
Does the right hon. Gentleman imagine that he has defined in that Answer what is meant by "political services"? Will he explain to the House how from time to time honours are awarded to Members of the Tory Party who have performed no particular service except to keep their mouths shut? [Laughter.] In view of that derisory interruption, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware that I have never asked for any honours nor do I need them? What is the qualification for making anybody a knight or baronet? Will he explain this, because the public are intensely interested in it. Will he give an assurance that in future, particularly on the Dissolution, he will refrain from embarking on what is an archaic and farcical inanity?
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
I consulted the precedents which I thought were most respectable. While it is true that under the Labour Government they did not make many political baronets, I have looked up the last four honours lists under the Labour Government and 75 per cent. of the peerages were for political services.
Sir Harry Hylton-Foster
, Cities of London and Westminster
Order. The reason for my stopping further supplementary questions is that this Question was asked after 3.30 p.m. by mistake. I thought that the right hon. Member for Easington (Mr. Shinwell) intended to ask a supplementary question on the previous Question.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the answer, I beg to give notice that I shall raise the matter on the Adjounment.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
