Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom was a group of senior ministers, including the Prime Minister, in charge of the British government. From at least 1796, the Cabinet was in session in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"])
History
20th century
The Douglas-Home Cabinet only lasted a year but suffered a quick turnover of Defence Secretaries and Deputy Prime Ministers, after Defence Secretary Stephen Mulryne and the Deputy PM were assassinated in November 1963. Their replacements, Sir Francis White and Sir Robert Devere, were part of a conspiracy and themselves died. (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games [+]Loading...["1963: The Assassination Games (audio story)"])
The initial Wilson Cabinet had James Callaghan as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Richard Crossman as Minister for Housing and Local Government. (AUDIO: State of Emergency [+]Loading...["State of Emergency (audio story)"], The Concrete Cage [+]Loading...["The Concrete Cage (audio story)"])
In the 1970s, a Cabinet session was interrupted by a phone call from Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who spoke with a Minister of Ecology and the Prime Minister. (TV: The Green Death (episode three) [+]Loading...{"ep":"three","1":"The Green Death (TV story)"})
The Third Doctor was called to an emergency Cabinet meeting during a Dalek attack. (COMIC: The Threat from Beneath [+]Loading...["The Threat from Beneath (comic story)"])
After the defeat of the SRS and the destruction of K1, the Brigadier wanted the Fourth Doctor to address the Cabinet. (TV: Robot (part four) [+]Loading...{"part":"four","1":"Robot (TV story)"})
In 1976, the Cabinet included Prime Minister Shirley Williams, Home Secretary Tony Benn, and Roy Jenkins. (PROSE: No Future [+]Loading...["No Future (novel)"])
In 1997, following a general election, David Staines was Home Secretary and Lord Greyhaven was the Science Minister. (PROSE: The Dying Days [+]Loading...["The Dying Days (novel)"])
In 1999, the Cabinet included Prime Minister Terry Brooks, Deputy Prime Minister Philip Cotton, and Defence Secretary Jennifer Hamilton. Part of the Cabinet, including Brooks, collaborated with the Voracians to get out of a budget issue. (PROSE: Millennium Shock [+]Loading...["Millennium Shock (novel)"])
21st century
In March 2006, the Cabinet found themselves stranded outside London after Big Ben was destroyed by an alien spacecraft. While he disguised himself as Acting Prime Minister Joseph Green, Jocrassa Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen told General R. Asquith that he had "cancelled" the airlifting in of the "rest of the Cabinet", as "[t]hey'd only get in the way." (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"]) After the Cabinet were killed, their deaths were covered up as accidents, but Mickey Smith spread the truth about them on his website. (PROSE: Mars [+]Loading...["Mars (WiDW short story)"])
Following his election as Prime Minister in 2008, the Saxon Master, under the identity of "Harold Saxon", attended an ultimately brief session of his Cabinet in which he, after cracking a joke and thanking them, accused them of being traitors who abandoned their political parties to jump on his bandwagon. He rigged the deskphone speakers on the Cabinet Room table to release a lethal gas that killed the Cabinet ministers, while using a gas mask to protect himself and mock his victims. Following this, it was claimed that the Cabinet had gone into "seclusion", which made Vivien Rook sceptical. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"])
In 2009, the Cabinet included Prime Minister Brian Green, Home Secretary Denise Riley, and a black male Defence Secretary. Also attending cabinet was political adviser Rick Yates. During a COBRA meeting, the Cabinet agreed to try and hand over children to the 456, haggling over the exact amount, rather than go to war and lose. Sixty-two failed asylum seekers were considered expendable and offered up, only for the 456 to demand 325,000 instead. A grim discussion was had and in order to ensure extended family couldn't be part of the 'lottery', Riley proposed they hand over the bottom 10% of the school league tables as those children were expendable. The Cabinet agreed and a cover story was established. Torchwood attempted to blackmail the Cabinet into ceasing the plan but failed: Torchwood's attempt to intimidate the 456 only confirmed its power and hardened the Cabinet's stance. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Four [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Four (TV story)"]) Control over the operation was taken by America's General Austin Pierce, as Britain was seen as having caused the issue; this allowed the Cabinet to say the events of the day "were in American hands" and not there's. Denise Riley blackmailed her way into control of the Prime Minister's office. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)"])
When the world was overrun by trees around the 2010s, the Cabinet went into emergency meeting and announced that they'd use controlled burns to get vital services through. (TV: In the Forest of the Night [+]Loading...["In the Forest of the Night (TV story)"])
Behind the scenes
- In real life, Shirley Williams was not Prime Minister and Tony Benn was not Home Secretary. Both of them were in 1970s Labour Cabinets in different roles.
