HC Deb 25 May 1950 vol 475 cc2235-6
50. Sir H. Williams

asked the Prime Minister how many Ministers in the House of Commons have appointed Parliamentary Private Secretaries.

Mr. H. Morrison

I have been asked to reply. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister thinks that about 20 or 25 such appointments have been made in this Parliament, but he is not prepared to make a categorical statement, as such appointments are matters for arrangement between individual Ministers and hon. Members whom they may ask to fill these posts.

Sir H. Williams

Does that mean that approximately 100 Members of the party opposite are now in the official bag and are debarred from differing from the Government in their views?

Mr. Morrison

That is a most offensive way of referring to anybody, even to Ministers of the Crown apart from Parliamentary Private Secretaries. This is a very modest number, much fewer than the number which existed in the Government of which I had the honour to be a member under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition during the war.

Wing-Commander Hulbert

Would not the right hon. Gentleman agree that prior to the advent of the Socialist Government, Parliamentary Private Secretaries were most discreet and did not heckle their chief's colleagues?

Mr. Chetwynd

Is it not a fact that Parliamentary Private Secretaries are quite capable of looking after their own business?