– in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 30 Ionawr 1964.
Mr Douglas Jay
, Battersea North
12:00,
30 Ionawr 1964
asked the Prime Minister why permission was given to Mr. Randolph Churchill to see a Cabinet Paper.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
As I informed the House on Tuesday, no such permission was given.
Mr Douglas Jay
, Battersea North
Does not the Prime Minister know that the Official Secrets Act forbids not merely the showing of papers to unauthorised persons, but the giving of information? Is he not aware that this particular paper was circulated to the Cabinet under the initials of the previous Prime Minister, and was formally considered and endorsed by the Cabinet? In these circumstances, will he confirm or deny the persistent report that this information was given to Mr. Randolph Churchill by the right hon. Member for Bromley (Mr. H. Macmillan)?
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
I have already answered that question, and have said that Mr. Randolph Churchill divulged nothing of the advice given to the Queen. I have also said that I did not intend to give to the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition, and this applies to his right hon. Friend, any information whether or not there was a Cabinet Paper.
Mr Douglas Jay
, Battersea North
As, a year ago, Miss Barbara Fell was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for showing a rather minor official document to an unauthorised person, are we to have one law for civil servants and another for Ministers?
Sir Alec Douglas-Home
, Kinross and West Perthshire
I have already said that no paper of any kind was shown improperly to anybody.
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.
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.
The "Leader of the Opposition" is head of "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". This position is taken by the Leader of the party with the 2nd largest number of MPs in the Commons.
