No one is supposed to exert pressure, but they can make useful information available.
I am not sure whether this is a good time to do this now, but I would like to clarify the recourse available for implementing the Shawcross theory. We have talked about responsibility to Parliament, but I would just like to emphasize something. A distinction has to be made between the government's responsibility before the House, which comes as a bloc, and the individual responsibility of ministers. Ministers are individually responsible for the normal operation of their departments.
Now, when a number of ministers hold discussions in cabinet and there are dissensions or disagreements, that is covered by secrecy. In other words, responsibility before the House is of very limited use in terms of knowing whether the Shawcross theory has been properly applied. It is very difficult because individual ministerial responsibility is largely limited to matters involving the daily operation of the department. In my opinion, it would be difficult to apply that to cabinet discussions where disagreements arose. If there are disagreements between members of cabinet, the individual responsibility would not allow those facts to be revealed to the public. In my opinion, the doctrine remains relatively arcane and difficult to put into practice.