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From teatime until about 1.00 p.m. there are … in the Chamber in
which MPs may try to speak, especially if the subjects are of interest to
their constituents. Sometimes a MP finally gets to bed when it is nearly
time to begin the next day’s work.

Task 3. Make up the dialogues on the basis of the following texts.
I. The Privy Council: The Privy Council developed from a
small group of royal advisers at court into the chief source of executive
authority. But its position was weakened in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries as more of its functions were transferred to a developing
parliamentary Cabinet.
Today its main role is to advise the monarch on a range of matters,
like the resolution of constitutional issues and the approval of Orders in
Council, such as the granting of Royal Charters to public bodies. The most
important task of the Privy Council today is performed by its Judicial
Committee. This serves as the final court of appeal from those
dependencies and Commonwealth countries which have retained this
avenue of appeal. It may also be used as an arbiter for a wide range of
courts and committees in Britain and overseas, and its rulings can be
influential.
The office of Privy Councilor is an honorary one, conferred, for
example, on former Prime Ministers.

II. The Ministry: The Ministry is the government of the
moment. The head of the Ministry is the Prime Minister. The functions of
the Prime Minister are: leading the majority party; running the
Government; appointing Cabinet Ministers and other ministers;
representing the nation in political matters.
Upon accepting office the Prime Minister must form a government,
that is, select a cabinet and ministry from among the Members of
Parliament of his own party. The Cabinet constitutes the centre of the
government and is composed of about 20 of the most important ministers.
All major decisions of the Government are made by the Cabinet, and
therefore it is the Cabinet which forms Government policy. Decisions
made by the Cabinet must be unanimous. It makes its decisions
collectively and is collectively responsible to Parliament,

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