Introduction

The idea of ‘cabinet government’ is central to the democratic arrangements for governing Britain. The received view goes broadly as follows. After an election, the leader of the majority party forms a cabinet to govern the country, to carry out the policies which the party has placed before the electorate, and generally to administer the country and take charge of events. By convention, the Prime Minister and the great majority of his or her cabinet colleagues are elected members of the House of Commons and thus sit in the ‘democratic’ House alongside the elected MPs to whom they are ultimately responsible. Generally, senior ministers must be MPs, apart from the Lord Chancellor who sits in the House of Lords and presides over its debates and the Leader of the House of Lords. Thus, ministers are physically present in the Commons, to be lobbied and pressured by MPs, as they enter or leave the chamber, or queue up to vote, or sit in the tea-room.