Appointment of Chairmen
24. We considered the present system by which the
post of chairman is allocated between political parties. We see
no practical alternative to the convention that the chairmanships
are allocated between parties on a formula which reflects the
balance of parties in the House. Any other mechanism would increase
the risk that a party with a majority might seek to make a clean
sweep of such posts. We would want to avoid the situation in the
US Congress in which the largest party takes every chair, with
the result that in the Senate all chairs have changed hands because
one Senator changed parties.
25. However, we do recognise that discussions on
a fair distribution of chairmanships are often complex and do
not always end in consensus. The Liberal Democrat Party has recorded
its view that the current allocation does not reflect fairly the
number of its seats in this Parliament. We recommend that the
proposed allocation between parties of the posts of chairmen of
select committees should be reported to the Committee of Nomination.
26. It is necessary in the interests of wider balance
that the parties should agree on which party will take the chair
of which committee. However, it is important that each committee
should then be free to select which of its members, from the appropriate
party, fills the post of chairman. It will be all the more important
that this decision is left to the committee if an additional salary
is attached to the post. It would be wholly unacceptable if paid
chairmanships were to become an extension of political patronage.
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