Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Science – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 March 1970.
Mr David Lane
, Cambridge
12:00,
5 March 1970
asked the Prime Minister if he will take steps to reduce the size of the Government during 1970.
Mr Harold Wilson
, Huyton
The number of Ministerial appointments will continue to be kept as low as is consistent with the Government's programme.
Mr David Lane
, Cambridge
Is it not a fact that this is still the most expensive and least popular Government of modern times?
Mr Harold Wilson
, Huyton
The hon. Gentleman obviously prepared his supplementary question when he put his Question down. The total size of the Administration, if we allow for Whips—[Interruption.] Assistant Whips unpaid were members of the Tory Administration, I take it. The fact that we are now paying the Assistant Whips, previously unpaid, does not enter into it. If we make allowances for that only and the fact that one Minister is now discharging the function previously discharged by an Ambassador, the total Administration is only four bigger than the Administration of October, 1964, despite the speeches we have heard. The productivity, of course, is out of all proportion.
Mr Dingle Foot
, Ipswich
Does my right hon. Friend recollect that the last time that the number of Ministers was substantially increased was in May, 1940, when Sir Winston Churchill formed his wartime coalition Administration? That Government, too, was not wholly unsuccessful.
Mr Harold Wilson
, Huyton
My right hon. and learned Friend was a distinguished member of it, I seem to remember, in the Ministry of Economic Warfare which has now been closed. We often hear from right hon. Members opposite about the number of Departments. They will be delighted to know that, whereas there were 20 Government Departments before October, 1964, there are now 18; and if one takes into account the fact that the Ministries of Housing and Transport are under the control of my right hon. Friend, one can call it 17. The size of the Government has risen very much less than the exports of this country.
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.
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.
