ABSTRACT
The idea of responsible government is inextricably linked with constitutionalism and the rule of law: government under or subject to the law. However, as has been seen, much of the United Kingdom’s constitution is regulated not under formal legal rules but by non-legal, but obligatory, constitutional conventions. A key convention in relation to responsible government is that of ministerial responsibility. The confidentiality of Cabinet discussion is protected by the prohibition against disclosure by members of Cabinet. The Ministerial Code provides that the Minister in charge of a Department is solely accountable to Parliament for the exercise of the powers on which the administration of the Department depends. The classic doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility was seen to operate most clearly in the Crichel Down affair in 1954. Crichel Down, an area of some 725 acres in Dorset, had been compulsorily acquired by the Air Ministry in 1937 for use as a bombing range.
