Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Defence – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 3 May 1983.
Mr Reg Race
, Haringey Wood Green
12:00,
3 May 1983
Why did the Minister not publish the right figures in the first place? Who is fooling who? Are President Reagan and his officials fooling the Minister, or is the Minister fooling and misleading the House by giving it misleading and untrue information about the number of American bases? Why should the British people not know how many American bases, run by foreign powers, are on British soil?
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.
