58. Mr. F. HALLasked the Prime Minister if he will consider the advisability of providing that no person who is related, directly or indirectly, to a Member of either House of Parliament shall be eligible for appointment in the Civil Service except as the result of competitive examination?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI am not prepared to make any such rule. In the case of all appointments the public interest is the governing consideration.
§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLCould the right hon. Gentleman kindly say whether the test of a rigorous competitive examination was applied to the Prime Ministerial relatives who packed the late Cabinet?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI do not wish to go into that; but to apply the test of a competitive examination rigorously and universally would be to exclude from the public service many of its most eminent members.
§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the late Cabinet was as full of relatives as Noah's Ark itself?