HC Deb 12 February 1932 vol 261 cc1163-4
Mr. LANSBURY

There is a rather serious matter to which I now wish to refer. During the Debate on Cabinet Responsibility, I said:

The ordinary Cabinet Minister never sees the Minutes of the Cabinet. He only sees the small summary which is called the Conclusion."—OFFICIAL REPORT, 8th February, 1932; col. 524, Vol. 261.] I have received from Sir Maurice Hankey, the Secretary to the Cabinet, the following letter: I see that in your speech in the House of Commons on your Motion on Cabinet responsibility on 8th February you are reported in Hansard to have said: 'The ordinary Cabinet Minister never sees the Minutes of the Cabinet. He only sees a small summary which is called the Conclusion.' It would seem from this statement that you may perhaps be under the impression that in addition to the Cabinet Conclusions, which are circulated to all Cabinet Ministers, separate Cabinet Minutes are kept which ordinary Cabinet Ministers never see. I can, however, assure you that this is a misapprehension of the settled practice which has been adopted and followed in this matter by every Government since the War, including the late Labour Government. This practice is briefly set out in a Memorandum on Cabinet Procedure … which I circulated to Members of the Labour Government in 1929, of which you have a copy. I attach, for convenience of reference, Paragraph 6 of that Memorandum, from which you will see that among the duties of the Secretary to the Cabinet is attendance at meetings of the Cabinet for the purpose of recording Conclusions; and, after obtaining the Prime Minister's approval, to circulate the draft Conclusions to the King for information, and to Ministers who, in practice, return them with any suggestions for amendment.' These Conclusions are the only authentic record which is kept of Cabinet meetings, and no other record of the proceedings of any kind has been kept by the Secretary to the Cabinet throughout the whole period during which I have held that office. As stated in my Memorandum, the rough notes taken by the Secretary during Cabinet meetings are invariably destroyed immediately after the Conclusions to which they relate have been reproduced and circulated to the Cabinet. I have only to say that I could not have any knowledge as to what happened to the notes on which the Conclusions were formed, and I am very glad to have this opportunity of correcting any misapprehension which may have arisen from my statement. I certainly was under the impression that the notes taken by the Secretary were kept, but it is quite certain from Sir Maurice Hankey's statement that they are not kept.