Principal Priority Officer

HC Deb 24 July 1947 vol 440 c1577

36. Sir Waldron Smithers

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power the name and salary of the Director of Priority recently appointed to his Department.

Mr. Shinwell

The Principal Priority Officer is Mr. B. J. Ellis, whose present salary is £1,750 per annum. Mr. Ellis is a temporary civil servant who has been serving, first in the Mines Department, and then in the Ministry, since 1939.

Sir W. Smithers

Can the Minister say why it is necessary to appoint another bureaucrat to interfere in the free trade of the country, which is so vital at the present moment?

Mr. Shinwell

This is merely the appointment of a civil servant to another post. That is all it is.