HC Deb 01 July 1953 vol 517 cc403-6

3.31 p.m.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. R. A. Butler)

With your permission, Mr. Speaker, I will make a short statement.

I undertook on Monday to make a statement about the addressing of Questions to the Prime Minister.

Questions on foreign affairs should normally be put down to the Secretary of State and will be answered by the Minister of State or the Under-Secretary. From time to time there may be Questions on foreign policy which would be answered by the Prime Minister; such Questions Should continue to be put down to him. This also applies, of course, to general Questions which are not the responsibility of individual Ministers. The Prime Minister's Questions will be answered on his behalf by myself or the Lord Privy Seal.

Mr. H. Morrison

The House will be obliged to the right hon. Gentleman for the statement that he has made, which should help to clear up matters, but there are one or two points that I should like to put to him in the hope that he can give the House some further guidance.

First, it is said in the statement that from time to time there may be Questions on foreign policy which would be answered by the Prime Minister. I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman can give any guidance as to the scope or standard, so to speak, of Foreign Office Questions with which the Prime Minister himself would deal or would have dealt with on his behalf. May we take it that with regard to Korea, for example, they will continue to be dealt with on the Prime Ministerial level, whether the Prime Minister answers personally or somebody answers on his behalf?

Finally, I presume that the words of the statement about general Questions which are not the responsibility of individual Ministers, which the Chancellor has said may be answered by himself or by the Leader of the House, apply to non-Foreign Office Questions. I quite understand that in that case it would be desirable to divide them according to the nature of the Questions, but may we take it that if Foreign Office Questions reach the Prime Ministerial level, one Minister will deal with them? Otherwise, it will only lead to confusion if two Ministers at different levels deal with Foreign Office Questions.

Mr. Butler

The answer to the last part of the right hon. Gentleman's question is that he is quite correct in assuming that the ordinary general Questions for the Prime Minister will be dealt with in the normal way as Prime Minister Questions. I think it is important that the normal Foreign Office Questions should be put down to the Secretary of State, but the Government wish to be at the service of the House and of right hon. and hon. Members; and if there is any doubt on a major Question I shall certainly be very glad to answer it myself, and if I am not able to do so the Leader of the House will answer it. That answers the right hon. Gentleman's point that there should be one Minister who will normally answer in the event of the Foreign Office Ministers not being able themselves to answer.

It is impossible to define exactly what type of Question would be put to the Prime Minister or to the Departmental Ministers. It is because we have found it difficult to define exactly the type of Question that we prefer to give the opportunity to hon. Members to put down the Questions as they think best. I do not think a subject like Korea should necessarily be treated in such a way that Questions on it are always put down to the Prime Minister. Questions on it might well be on aspects which the Foreign Office as a Department is more competent to answer than a Minister answering on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Mr. Morrison

I am much obliged, but I am still a little worried about the division of Foreign Office Questions on the higher levels. Perhaps we are agreed about it. I think it would be inconvenient, as a matter of normal principle, for the answers to those Questions to be divided between two Ministers. Are we to take it from the Chancellor's reply that normally he will answer those if they reach what we may call the Prime Ministerial level, but that in his enforced ab- sence they would be answered by the Leader of the House? If so, I think that is a reasonable assumption, but I would hope that one Minister would take primary responsibility at that level for answering Foreign Office Questions.

Mr. Butler

I think the answer is quite clear about that. I shall be ready to answer normally, and if I were to be absent my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal would answer. Otherwise the arrangement would be that the Lord Privy Seal, as Leader of the House, might take some of the other Prime Minister Questions by agreement between us.