Oral Answers to Questions — Poland – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 27 Ionawr 1947.
Mr William Gallacher
, Fife Western
12:00,
27 Ionawr 1947
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will consider withdrawing the present ambassador in Warsaw and replacing him by someone who will make social contacts more in keeping with the policy of the Labour Government.
Mr William Gallacher
, Fife Western
Is it not the case that the Ambassador represents the Minister, and am I to understand that the social contacts which this Ambassador is making are the social contacts after which the Minister is hankering?
Mr Quintin Hogg
, Oxford
Would it not be desirable that our policy in relation to Warsaw should conform to our policy in relation to Madrid?
Major Guy Lloyd
, Renfrewshire Eastern
Would the right hon. Gentleman explain what he meant by the use of the words "Indeed not"? Surely, he meant what he said later— that, whatever friends and contacts His Majesty's Ambassador had, the Government were also behind them? What did the right hon. Gentleman mean by "Indeed not"?
Mr. McNeil:
I took it that the assumption behind the supplementary question asked by the hon. Member for West Fife (Mr. Gallacher) was that His Majesty's Government should disapprove of these-contacts of His Majesty's Ambassador in Warsaw, and I made it plain that, if such contacts were confined to one section of the population, he would be failing in his duty. His duty is to establish wide contacts.
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.
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.
