W/C 13th November 2023

As an accompaniment to some of what I am about to talk about, I thought I would clarify the whole 'how can a person that hasn't been elected possibly be appointed to the cabinet' position. Well, as with most things concerning the governance of the UK it is down to convention.

Technically speaking that could have been me getting out of a car in Downing Street this week, traipsing off to be offered the job of Foreign Secretary, because you don't actually have to be a member of either chamber (which I am not).

Because however it is a core principle of the UK constitutional system that ministers should be accountable, then it is the accepted practice that either one should be an elected MP or a member of the Lords - hence why DC was ennobled in pretty short order to allow him to take up a cabinet level post.

The last time we had a Foreign Secretary that sat in the Lords was Lord Carrington (1979-82) though there are plenty of other examples across different departments in Whitehall since.

If you want to know more this article makes for a good introduction, unsurprisingly it was published on Monday.

Stay safe.

Blue Monday - New Order

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