56-512: Thomas Ashton PC DL (23 March 1844 – 12 October 1927) was a British trade unionist . Born in Openshaw , Ashton worked as a coal miner from the age of 12, and in 1865 became secretary of the Bradford and Clayton miners' lodge. This dissolved two years later, but Ashton re-established it in 1873, facing victimisation, but also being elected as checkweighman . He subsequently led
112-782: A few institutions in the United Kingdom . The Judicial Committee also hears very occasional appeals from a number of ancient and ecclesiastical courts. These include the Church Commissioners , the Arches Court of Canterbury , the Chancery Court of York , prize courts, the High Court of Chivalry , and the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports . This committee usually consists of members of
168-583: A political body – that is to say the Cabinet – which may have to make policy decisions upon the basis of the legal advice the law officers have given." The Cabinet is a committee of the Privy Council (though this interpretation has been challenged) and, as such, all Cabinet ministers must be privy counsellors. Members of the Cabinet are by convention chosen from members of the two houses of Parliament, as convention dictates that ministers may only be recruited from
224-458: A remedy worse than the disease". Charles I began a formal "Cabinet Council" from his accession in 1625, as his Privy Council, or "private council", and the first recorded use of "cabinet" by itself for such a body comes from 1644, and is again hostile and associates the term with dubious foreign practices. There were ministries in England led by the chief minister , which was a personage leading
280-649: A secretary of state. The Committee, which last met in 1988, is concerned with the design and usage of wafer seals . The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the executive committee of the Privy Council and the senior decision-making body of British Government . The Judicial Committee serves as the final court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies , the British Overseas Territories , some Commonwealth countries, military sovereign base areas and
336-604: A smaller working committee which evolved into the modern Cabinet . By the end of the English Civil War , the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber , the House of Commons , instituted a Council of State to execute laws and to direct administrative policy. The forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons;
392-446: Is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom . Its members, known as privy counsellors , are mainly senior politicians who are current or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords . The Privy Council formally advises the sovereign on the exercise of the royal prerogative . The King-in-Council issues executive instruments known as Orders in Council . The Privy Council also holds
448-581: Is appointed, they have been granted a customary peerage. The Cabinet is now made up almost entirely of members of the House of Commons. Civil servants from the Cabinet Secretariat and special advisers (on the approval of the prime minister) can also attend Cabinet meetings, but neither take part in discussions. It has been suggested that the modern Cabinet is too large, including by former Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill and scholars Robert Hazell and Rodney Brazier . Hazell has suggested merging
504-534: Is the ultimate decision-making body of the executive within the Westminster system of government in traditional constitutional theory. This interpretation was originally put across in the work of 19th-century constitutionalists such as Walter Bagehot , who described the Cabinet as the "efficient secret" of the British political system in his book The English Constitution . The political and decision-making authority of
560-626: The Cabinet . With the creation of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, a single Privy Council was created for Great Britain and Ireland, although the Privy Council of Ireland continued to exist until 1922, when it was abolished upon the creation of the Irish Free State as an independent Dominion outside the United Kingdom, but within the British Empire . The Privy Council of Northern Ireland
616-473: The Council of Ministers or similar bodies of other countries are often informally referred to as cabinets. The modern Cabinet system was set up by Prime Minister David Lloyd George during his premiership, 1916–1922, with a Cabinet Office and secretariat, committee structures, unpublished minutes , and a clearer relationship with departmental Cabinet ministers. The formal procedures, practice and proceedings of
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#1733085648889672-559: The House of Commons and the House of Lords . The Ministerial Code says that the business of the Cabinet (and cabinet committees ) is mainly questions of major issues of policy, questions of critical importance to the public and questions on which there is an unresolved argument between departments. The work of the Cabinet is scrutinised by the Shadow Cabinet , made up of members of the Official Opposition . Until at least
728-474: The House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 ). The Crown-in-Council was formerly the supreme appellate court for the entire British Empire , but a number of Commonwealth countries have now abolished the right to such appeals. The Judicial Committee continues to hear appeals from several Commonwealth countries, from British Overseas Territories , Sovereign Base Areas and Crown Dependencies . The Judicial Committee had direct jurisdiction in cases relating to
784-816: The Miners' International Federation , and was its secretary from 1890 until 1914. In 1917, Ashton was appointed to the Privy Council . He retired from all his union posts in 1919. Privy Council (United Kingdom) King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The Privy Council (formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council )
840-1072: The Scotland Act 1998 , the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 , but this was transferred to the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009. The Scottish Universities Committee considers proposed amendments to the statutes of Scotland's four ancient universities . Cabinet of the United Kingdom King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The Cabinet of
896-905: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges of the Commonwealth of Nations who are Privy Counsellors. Within the United Kingdom, the Judicial Committee hears appeals from ecclesiastical courts , the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports, Prize Courts and the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons , appeals against schemes of the Church Commissioners and appeals under certain Acts of Parliament (e.g.,
952-403: The constitutional convention of collective ministerial responsibility . Cabinet ministers, like all ministers, are appointed and may be dismissed by the monarch without notice or reason, on the advice of the prime minister. The allocation and transfer of responsibilities between ministers and departments is also generally at the prime minister's discretion. The Cabinet has always been led by
1008-420: The final court of appeal for the entire British Empire (other than for the United Kingdom itself). It continues to hear judicial appeals from some other independent Commonwealth countries , as well as Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories . The Privy Council of the United Kingdom, created on 1 January 1801, was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland , the Privy Council of England , and
1064-459: The power of the prime minister , who moved from being the primus inter pares of the Asquith Cabinets of 1906 onwards, to the dominating figures of David Lloyd George, Stanley Baldwin , and Winston Churchill . The Institute for Government claims that the reduced number of full Cabinet meetings signifies "that the role of Cabinet as a formal decision-making body has been in decline since
1120-469: The 16th century, individual officers of state had separate property, powers and responsibilities granted with their separate offices by royal command, and the Crown and the Privy Council constituted the only co-ordinating authorities. In England, phrases such as "cabinet counsel", meaning advice given in private, in a cabinet in the sense of a small room, to the monarch, occur from the late 16th century, and, given
1176-567: The Cabinet remain largely unpublished. This development grew out of the exigencies of the First World War , where faster and better co-ordinated decisions across government were seen as a crucial part of the war effort. Decisions on mass conscription , co-ordination worldwide with other governments across international theatres, and armament production tied into a general war strategy that could be developed and overseen from an inner " War Cabinet ". The country went through successive crises after
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#17330856488891232-540: The Cabinet. The total number of Cabinet ministers who are entitled to a salary is capped by statute at 21, plus the Lord Chancellor , who is paid separately. Some ministers may be designated as also attending Cabinet, like the Attorney General , as "...it has been considered more appropriate, in recent times at any rate, that the independence and detachment of his office should not be blurred by his inclusion in
1288-591: The Civil Service (Amendment) Order in Council 1997, permitted the Prime Minister to grant up to three political advisers management authority over some Civil Servants. In the 1960s, the Privy Council made an order to evict an estimated 1,200 to 2,000 inhabitants of the 55-island Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, in preparation for the establishment of a joint United States–United Kingdom military base on
1344-472: The Council — which later became the Court of the Star Chamber — was during the 15th century permitted to inflict any punishment except death, without being bound by normal court procedure . During Henry VIII 's reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation. The legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIII's death. By 1540
1400-788: The Court of Appeal were persuaded by this argument, but in 2007 the Law Lords of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords found the original decision to be flawed and overturned the ruling by a 3–2 decision, thereby upholding the terms of the Order in Council. As of 2023, negotiations between the Mauritian and UK governments that included the sovereignty of the Chagossians were still ongoing. The Privy Council has committees: The Baronetage Committee
1456-511: The English government for the monarch. Despite primary accountability to the monarch, these ministries, having a group of ministers running the country, served as a predecessor of the modern perspective of cabinet. After the ministry of Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland collapsed, Sir Robert Walpole rose to power as First Lord of the Treasury . Since the reign of King George I the Cabinet has been
1512-713: The Government of the day to account is often cited by the UK media as a justification for the vigour with which they question and challenge the Government. The classic view of Cabinet Government was laid out by Walter Bagehot in The English Constitution (1867) in which he described the prime minister as the primus-inter-pares (" first among equals "). The view was questioned by Richard Crossman in The Myths of Cabinet Government (1972) and by Tony Benn . They were both members of
1568-449: The House of Commons or the House of Lords, although this convention has been broken in the past for short periods. Patrick Gordon Walker is perhaps the most notable exception: he was appointed to the Cabinet despite losing his seat in the 1964 general election , and resigned from Cabinet after running and losing in a by-election in January 1965. Sometimes, when a minister from neither House
1624-520: The King-in-Council, although in practice its actual work of hearing and deciding upon cases is carried out day-to-day by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council . The Judicial Committee consists of senior judges appointed as privy counsellors: predominantly justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges from the Commonwealth . The Privy Council formerly acted as
1680-557: The Labour governments of the 1960s and thought that the position of the prime minister had acquired more power so that prime ministerial government was a more apt description. Crossman stated that the increase in the power of the prime minister resulted from power of centralised political parties, the development of a unified civil service, and the growth of the prime minister's private office and Cabinet secretariat . Graham Allen (a government whip during Tony Blair's first government) makes
1736-679: The Lord Protector, subject to Parliament's approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy , the Protector's Council was abolished. King Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. The formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 combined the Privy Councils of England and Scotland,
Thomas Ashton (trade unionist) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1792-554: The Privy Council of Great Britain (1708–1800). Its continued existence has been described as "more or less a constitutional and historical accident". The key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below: In Anglo-Saxon England , the Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England . During the reigns of the Norman monarchs , the English Crown
1848-522: The United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of the Government of the United Kingdom . A committee of the Privy Council , it is chaired by the Prime Minister and its members include Secretaries of State and senior Ministers of State . Members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Prime Minister and are by convention chosen from members of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom ,
1904-549: The body was headed by Oliver Cromwell , de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector , and the Council was reduced to between thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs. The Council became known as the Protector's Privy Council ; its members were appointed by
1960-401: The cabinet has been gradually reduced over the last several decades, with some claiming its role has been usurped by a "prime ministerial" government. In the modern political era, the prime minister releases information concerning the ministerial ranking in the form of a list detailing the seniority of all Cabinet ministers. The centralisation of the Cabinet in the early 20th century enhanced
2016-618: The case in The Last Prime Minister: Being Honest About the UK Presidency (2003) that the office of prime minister has presidential powers, as did Michael Foley in The British Presidency (2000). However, the power that a prime minister has over his or her cabinet colleagues is directly proportional to the amount of support that they have with their political parties and this is often related to whether
2072-480: The custom of meeting on a Thursday, after the appointment of Gordon Brown , the meeting day was switched to Tuesday. However, when David Cameron became prime minister, he held his cabinet meetings on Thursdays again. Upon Theresa May's tenure, she switched the cabinet meetings back to Tuesday. The length of meetings varies according to the style of the Prime Minister and political conditions, but modern meetings can be as short as 30 minutes. Ministers are bound by
2128-830: The dates of bank holidays . The Privy Council formerly had sole power to grant academic degree-awarding powers and the title of university , but following the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 these powers have been transferred to the Office for Students for educational institutions in England. Before the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 the Civil Service was governed by powers of royal prerogative . These powers were usually delegated to ministers by Orders in Council , and were used by Margaret Thatcher to ban GCHQ staff from joining trade unions. Another,
2184-466: The delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. It advises the sovereign on the issuing of royal charters , which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, and city or borough status to local authorities. Otherwise, the Privy Council's powers have now been largely replaced by its executive committee, the Cabinet of the United Kingdom . Certain judicial functions are also performed by
2240-564: The formation of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation , and was its secretary from 1881. Ashton next worked with Ben Pickard to establish the Miners' Federation of Great Britain , and he was appointed as its first secretary. Although he personally supported the Conservative Party , he did not attempt to influence the union's political views, which initially followed Pickard's liberalism . He also worked with Pickard to establish
2296-541: The largest island in the archipelago, Diego Garcia . In 2000, the High Court of Justice ruled that the inhabitants had a right to return to the archipelago. In 2004, the Privy Council, under Jack Straw 's tenure, overturned the ruling. In 2006, the High Court of Justice found the Privy Council's decision to be unlawful. Justice Kentridge stated that there was no known precedent "for the lawful use of prerogative powers to remove or exclude an entire population of British subjects from their homes and place of birth", and
Thomas Ashton (trade unionist) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2352-457: The latter body coming to an end in 1708. Under King George I , even more power transferred to a small committee of the Council, which began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the Sovereign; the role passed to a committee of the Council, now known as
2408-573: The media, and was made clear in the Butler Review , where Blair's style of "sofa government" was censured. The combined effect of the prime minister's ability to control Cabinet by circumventing effective discussion in Cabinet and the executive's ability to dominate parliamentary proceedings places the British prime minister in a position of great power, that has been likened to an elective dictatorship (a phrase coined by Quinton Hogg, Lord Hailsham in 1976). The relative inability of Parliament to hold
2464-428: The nineteen-member council had become a new national institution, most probably the creation of Thomas Cromwell , without there being exact definitions of its powers. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became a primarily administrative body. In 1553 the Council consisted of forty members÷, whereas Henry VII swore over a hundred servants to his council. Sovereigns relied on
2520-414: The non-standardised spelling of the day, it is often hard to distinguish whether "council" or "counsel" is meant. The OED credits Francis Bacon in his Essays (1605) with the first use of "Cabinet council", where it is described as a foreign habit, of which he disapproves: "For which inconveniences, the doctrine of Italy, and practice of France, in some kings' times, hath introduced cabinet counsels;
2576-526: The offices of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland , Scotland, and Wales into one Secretary of State for the Union, in a department into which Rodney Brazier has suggested adding a minister of state for England with responsibility for English local government . Most cabinet meetings take place in the Cabinet Room of 10 Downing Street ; however, they have been known to take place in other places. Despite
2632-445: The power to grant royal assent to legislation, are a form of primary legislation, while orders made under statutory powers are a form of secondary legislation. Orders of Council , distinct from Orders in Council, are issued by members of the Privy Council without requiring the approval of the sovereign. Like Orders in Council, they can be made under statutory powers or royal prerogative. Orders of Council are most commonly used for
2688-442: The prime minister, whose originally unpaid office as such was traditionally described as merely primus inter pares (first among equals), but today the prime minister is the preeminent head of government , with the effective power to appoint and dismiss Cabinet ministers and to control the Cabinet's agenda. The extent to which the Government is collegial varies with political conditions and individual personalities. The Cabinet
2744-409: The principal executive group of British government. Both he and George II made use of the system, as both were not native English speakers, unfamiliar with British politics, and thus relied heavily on selected groups of advisers. The term "minister" came into being since the royal officers "ministered" to the sovereign. The name and institution have been adopted by most English-speaking countries, and
2800-513: The regulation of public institutions and regulatory bodies. The sovereign also grants royal charters on the advice of the Privy Council. Charters bestow special status to incorporated bodies ; they are used to grant chartered status to certain professional, educational or charitable bodies, and sometimes also city and borough status to towns. The Privy Council therefore deals with a wide range of matters, which also includes university and livery company statutes, churchyards , coinage and
2856-448: The supreme legislature of the kingdom. Nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, rather than on the advice of Parliament, were accepted as valid. Powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. For example, a committee of
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#17330856488892912-797: The war." This view has been contradicted by Vernon Bogdanor , a British constitutional expert, who claims that "the Cabinet has, in fact, been strengthened by the decline in full meetings, as it allows more matters to be transferred to cabinet committees. Thus, business is done more efficiently." Most prime ministers have had a so-called "kitchen cabinet" consisting of their own trusted advisers who may be Cabinet members but are often non-cabinet trusted personal advisers on their own staff. In recent governments, generally from Margaret Thatcher , and especially in that of Tony Blair , it has been reported that many or even all major decisions have been made before cabinet meetings. This suggestion has been made by former ministers including Clare Short and Chris Smith , in
2968-631: The war: the 1926 general strike ; the Great Depression of 1929–32; the rise of Bolshevism after 1917 and fascism after 1922; the Spanish Civil War 1936 onwards; the invasion of Abyssinia 1936; the League of Nations Crisis which followed; and the re-armament and resurgence of Germany from 1933, leading into the Second World War . The Prime Minister decides the membership and attendees of
3024-400: Was advised by a royal court or curia regis , which consisted of magnates , ecclesiastics and high officials . The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration and justice. Later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice , while Parliament became
3080-425: Was created in 1922, but became defunct in 1972, when the Parliament of Northern Ireland was closed down. The sovereign may make Orders in Council upon the advice of the Privy Council. Orders in Council, which are drafted by the government rather than by the sovereign, are forms of either primary or secondary legislation , depending on the power they are made under. Orders made under prerogative powers, such as
3136-578: Was established by a 1910 Order in Council, during Edward VII 's reign, to scrutinise all succession claims (and thus reject doubtful ones) to be placed on the Roll of Baronets . The Committee for the Affairs of Jersey and Guernsey recommends approval of Channel Islands legislation. The Committee for the purposes of the Crown Office Act 1877 consists of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Privy Seal as well as
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