Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Two jobs or one?
The appearance of the Prime Minister in front of his twice-yearly scrutiny committee threw up at least one interesting issue.
Tory MP, Sir Patrick McCormack was interested in Tony's view as to whether it was possible for one man to be both Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland. Obviously, the answer was yes. However, what was not made clear was why, given the Prime Minister's view that "because of devolution in Wales and Scotland there is a very much reduced requirement [in Whitehall]", the Wales Office budget doubled between 1999 and 2005.
Tory MP, Sir Patrick McCormack was interested in Tony's view as to whether it was possible for one man to be both Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland. Obviously, the answer was yes. However, what was not made clear was why, given the Prime Minister's view that "because of devolution in Wales and Scotland there is a very much reduced requirement [in Whitehall]", the Wales Office budget doubled between 1999 and 2005.
