Hugo Swire, the Conservative Member of Parliament for my home constituency of East Devon has become the latest politician to be appointed to the Privy Council.Constituted by a select group of senior government politicians and currently presided by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Privy Council goes back to the earliest days of the Monarchy, when it comprised those appointed by the King or Queen to advice on matters of state.
Under the UK’s constitutional monarchy, the day to day work of the Council is done by government ministers who are thus Privy Counsellors, and these include all Cabinet Ministers and a small number of select junior Ministers, such as Mr Swire who is currently the Minister responsible for Northern Ireland in the Conservative-led coalition government.
The Privy Council commonly meets once a month, and is conducted in the presence of her Majesty the Queen with just a small number of the 550+ Privy Councillors invited each time. In addition, those lucky enough to gain membership to the Privy Council also get the right to be called "Right Honourable" – not a bad reward really for serving your constituency for ten years…
