The latest edition of the Commons register of Member’s Secretaries & Research Assistants reveals that, with 14 bag carriers, Sir Menzies is employing only four less people than Tory leader David Cameron – and six more than the PM (who admittedly has a fair bit of secretarial support outside Parliament).
It reminds me of the old exchange from Yes Minister
James Hacker: Who else is in this department?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: Well briefly, Sir, I am the Permanent Under Secretary of State, known as the Permanent Secretary. Woolley here is your Principal Private Secretary, I too have a Principal Private Secretary and he is the Principal Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary. Directly responsible to me are ten Deputy Secretaries, 87 Under Secretaries and 219 Assistant Secretaries. Directly responsible to the Principal Private Secretary are plain Private Secretaries, and the Prime Minister will be appointing two Parliamentary Under Secretaries and you will be appointing your own Parliamentary Private Secretary.
James Hacker: Do they all type?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: No. Mrs. McKay types. She’s the secretary.
PS – “Employing” is a loose term. Some are unpaid.
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