– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 December 1969.
Mr William Price
, Rugby
12:00,
9 December 1969
asked the Prime Minister which Minister is now in charge of the Government's Press and public relations.
Mr Harold Wilson
, Huyton
Each Minister in charge of a Department is responsible for these matters as they affect his own Department. As I told the House on 4th November, the Minister without Portfolio will, among his other duties, answer Questions in the House about the coordination of home information policy.—[Vol. 790, c. 92—3.]
Mr William Price
, Rugby
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the vast Majority of my hon. Friends would not want him to make the sort of Ministerial appointment which the Tories made in this context when they were in office? As an alternative, would he perhaps consider sending the members of the Government front bench on a weekend course in basic public relations so that they may return better equipped to spell out the magnificent achievements of the Labour Government?
Mr Harold Wilson
, Huyton
The answer to the first part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question is, "Yes, Sir". I have always been opposed to using the taxpayers' money to have a Minister of Information, something which hon. Gentlemen opposite did for party purposes. [Interruption.] The answer to the second part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question is that I am more concerned that my Ministerial colleagues should continue, as they are doing, to add to the record of achievement, rather than go on weekend courses. I felt that the publication of the balance of payments figures yesterday gave a fair indication—[Interruption.] A lot of stuff appeared on the front pages of yesterday's newspapers. I would rather my Ministerial colleagues spent their time increasing achievements like that than going on weekend courses.
Dr Winnie Ewing
, Hamilton
From the public relations point of view, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman to say if there is anything sinister in the fact that in a full-page Government advertisement of the right hon. Gentleman with some Members of his Cabinet the face of the Secretary of State of Scotland is missing? Does the right hon. Gentleman think that that is a matter for the Race Relations Board?
Mr Harold Wilson
, Huyton
Strictly speaking, this Question does not fall within my Ministerial duties, because this was not in relation to Government information services but in relation to a happy little picture taken when a few of us got together one Thursday morning. The Secretary of State for Scotland was not with us. He was in his proper place. He was in Scotland.
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.
A Minister without Portfolio is a government minister with no specific responsibilities.
The first bench on either side of the House of Commons, reserved for ministers and leaders of the principal political parties.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
