The Offices to be Filled

The offices to be filled when a new Prime Minister takes office are some ninety in number. They are not determined by law, and there is no legal distinction between a political and a non-political office. Some of them, indeed, are survivals of other times and other conditions. A Lord Privy Seal is usually appointed, though there is no Privy Seal office. A Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has about two hours a week of office work. A Lord President of the Council has little more. The chief offices are, however, the key administrative positions. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister of Defence, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the seven Secretaries of State, the President of the Board of Trade, the Ministers of Labour and National Service, Health, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Education, Fuel and Power, Housing and Local Government, Pensions and National Insurance, and Transport and Civil Aviation, and the Postmaster-General, control the main functions of government. Each of them, too, has at least one political subordinate. The Ministers of Works and Supply and the Lord Chancellor also have important departmental duties. There may be five or six Ministers of State assisting the ministers mentioned above. The Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor-General for Scotland have duties which are, for the most part, not administrative. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and the Lords of the Treasury have some departmental duties in the Treasury.