Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 January 2001.
Mr Chris Smith
Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
12:00,
22 January 2001
No. It is entirely as a result of the Secretary of State's competence that we made the right decisions in December 1999 to ensure that we have a location and a venue for the world athletics championships in 2005. If we had taken the Conservative party's advice, we would have been left without a venue and any prospect of hosting the championships, and with egg all over our face.
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.
