By Ned Simons - 26th October 2010
This is our chance to take ownership of new politics, which cannot be driven by front benchers and the executive because the executive are all about taking and retaining power and extending the tentacles of patronage even further
Charles Walker MP
The government has defeated a move to reduce the number of ministers in line with a proposed reduction in the number of MPs.
The vote came as MPs debated the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill in the Commons last night. If passed, the Bill would bring about a reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600.
The current maximum number of ministers allowed in the Commons is 95. Conservative MP Charles Walker proposed an amendment to the Bill that would reduce that number to 87 – however it was defeated by a vote of 293 to 241.
"All I am asking is that when the House of Commons reduces by a mere 50, we reduce the number of ministers by a mere 8," he said.
"Rafts of leading academics and political commentators have recognised for a long time that there are far too many ministers in this place."
The Broxbourne MP argued that if his amendment was defeated the executive would gain more control over Parliament as a greater proportion of MPs would be on the government payroll and therefore be obliged to vote with the administration.
And he warned MPs that unless they voted in favour of his amendment the so-called "new politics" promoted by the coalition would die.
He said: "This is our chance to take ownership of new politics, which cannot be driven by front benchers and the executive because the executive are all about taking and retaining power and extending the tentacles of patronage even further.
"We as backbenchers will take ownership of new politics tonight; we will do the heavy lifting for the Executive.
"The House and my colleagues have the chance to do the right thing tonight and I hope that they take that chance, because they will be respected for it if they do.
"This is the night when the new politics will be born, or it will die."
Walker gained support from fellow Tory MP Sir Peter Tapsell, who said there had been an explosion in the number of "loyal, but little known and easily sackable bag carriers".
"At this rate, genuine government backbenchers will become a threatened species," he said.
"There will be no more Pitts attacking Walpole, no more Disraelis attacking Peel and no young Macmillans attacking Chamberlain, yet that is part of the lifeblood of our parliamentary story."
He added: "We do not have too many MPs: we have too many ministers and too many placemen, to use Sir Robert Walpole's phrase to describe the proliferation of what Disraeli later described as the Tadpoles and Tapers of politics, who are now being proliferated to an astonishing degree."
But the Liberal Democrat deputy leader of the Commons, David Heath, said there was not a "simple arithmetical relationship" between the number of MPs and the number of ministers.
"To suggest that there is is to reduce the argument and to take it beyond what is reasonable."
"Ministerial responsibilities must reflect what the prime minister and government of the day feel they need in order to do their work effectively."
And he attacked the previous Labour government for failing to address the issue.
"They never took on these issues one single bit; there was never the slightest attempt to reduce the size of government or to relax the grip of the executive on Parliament," he said.
Heath did tell MPs that the government would set out plans to tackle the number of ministers in the Commons once they had finalised proposals for reform of the House of Lords.
The House of Commons Public Administration Committee, of which Walker is a member, produced the report "Too Many Ministers?" in the last Parliament. It has already launched a new inquiry, asking "What do Ministers do?".
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.