Word: parliament
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Next year the Duke was assigned to go to Australia and open its new Parliament with a Speech from the Throne, for him a terrible ordeal. "Well, here goes," York was heard to say to his wife as, gritting his teeth, he arose to speak. "I know you can do it," she replied firmly and Australians were struck by the way in which the Duchess followed every word, nodding and smiling encouragement right through to the Duke's successful close which brought a torrent of cheers...
...poverty" budget. That was the budget that pitted the House of Commons against the House of Lords in a two-year struggle for power-a struggle which ended only after King George V, by threatening to pack the House of Lords with new peers, forced them to pass the Parliament Act which established the supremacy of Commons...
...morning last week when the staid London Times turned up at breakfast with these cryptic numerals above a report of the previous day's debate in Parliament, every good Londoner got the allusion. Britain's bungling, War-born Ministry of Information was still being lambasted in the House of Commons. And the Times head was a plea for help from baffled editors whose effort to get news from the front had been balked by official red tape...
Next day in the House of Commons Laborite John Morgan rose up to ask how many men the Ministry employed. Tall, baldish Sir Edward Grigg, appointed that morning to represent the Ministry in Parliament, answered for the Government: there were 872 in London, 127 provincial employes. A gusty Whew! swept like a wind through the House, followed by cries of anguish. Of these 999, Sir Edward added, 43 were former newsmen, 48 were Ministry officers chosen because they had press or radio experience. His explanation was greeted with a roar of laughter and jeers...
...While Parliament bandied witticisms, almost forgetting there was a war in Europe, British journals grew increasingly bitter. They wanted more newsmen, fewer admirals in the Ministry. Said the Yorkshire Post: "We do not know who conceived the Ministry of Information but it was strangled in red tape at birth." The Daily Express exclaimed: "Soon we will need leaflet raids on Britain to tell our own people how the War is going!" Thoroughly disgusted, the National Union of Journalists uttered a resolution: "Under present conditions the Ministry is both a national scandal and a national danger...