The Early Start Toward Cabinet Office, 1918-55

Abstract

INE-TENTHS of theM.P.'s who first won seats in the House of Commons in 1918 or thereafter, and who held some ministerial office in the years from 1918 to 1955, began their progress toward posts in a ministry or a Cabinet by serving as parliamentary secretaries or as junior ministers. This proportion holds for both the Labour and the Conservative parties. Almost a third of the Labour parliamentary private secretaries subsequently were appointed to ministerial office, and 7 per cent finally reached Cabinet rank. The record of Conservative parliamentary private secretaries is much the same, though only 4 per cent finally reached Cabinet posts. In both parties a little less than a third of those who began as junior ministers went on to higher official postions, and a sixth ultimately reached Cabinet positions.' Recruitment to the front bench clearly begins with these two offices. Twothirds of Labour ministers and Cabinet ministers, 55 per cent of Conservative ministers, and three-fourths of Conservative Cabinet ministers began their careers in office by service in one or the other or both of these posts.