Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Commercial Airship Service. – in the House of Commons am ar 14 Mai 1924.
Commander Charles Burney
, Uxbridge
As this question has been raised I think it would be as well if I gave an explanation. I gave certain information to one of the Lobby correspondents last night, but I did not give any information other than that which had already been published in the "Westminster Gazette" nearly a week before and had already been published in the "Daily Mail" some three or four days before. I took up that matter with the Under-Secretary of State for Air and asked that some means should be taken to stop this leakage as it would appear to come either from myself or some other person who had been negotiating in the matter. That information had been given out to the Press, and I think hon. Members will find, if they read this article, that the only other information is information directly dealing with private work which is going on in a private concern and has nothing to do with the secrets of the Cabinet committee. I think they will also find, if they read the "Daily News"—I think it is the "Daily News"—of the day after the publication in the "Westminster Gazette" that I was interviewed by reporters as to my views on that statement and as to whether it was correct or otherwise, and I refused to give any information because I had been a party to these Cabinet conferences. As I say, yesterday I only repeated what had already been published in the papers a week or more ago, and I did not think in these circumstances that I was in any way abrogating a confidence. I would like to say further that I informed the Air Ministry this morning directly this was published, as I did not expect it to be published until to-morrow. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh, oh!"] I think it is quite obvious that I should not have done it if I had thought that it would inconvenience the Prime Minister in his statement to-day. I informed the Secretary of State for Air this morning that I had given this information, and that I was sorry that certain portions had been put in which had already been published by the "Westminster Gazette," and which, therefore, would appear as having more authority than otherwise. I think that is an explanation which will satisfy the House.
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.
Cabinet committees are established by the prime minister to enable the cabinet to deal more efficiently with the large volume of government business.
All cabinet committees are chaired by the prime minister or a senior cabinet minister and will have a number of cabinet ministers as members. Some are permanent committees while others are set up to deal with particular issues as they arise.
Cabinet committees carry out the bulk of cabinet work and the decisions they take have the authority of full cabinet. If a committee cannot agree on an issue it will be sent to the full cabinet for a final decision.
Some cabinet committees have sub-committees that do not usually taking final decisions on policy, but can enable important discussion of those issues which range across government departments.
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.
