In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench and are described as frontbenchers. Those sitting behind them are known as backbenchers. The debating chamber or hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels. ... A political party is a political organization that subscribes to a certain ideology and seeks to attain political power within a government. ... A caucus is most generally defined as being a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement. ... A spokesperson (person could be replaced with the gender of the person), or spokesmodel is a person who speaks on behalf of others, but is understood not to be necessarily part of the others (e. ... A backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislature who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. ...
In the United Kingdom parliament, the Government frontbench is traditionally on the right hand side as seen by the Chairman (typically the Speaker of the House of Commons or the Lord Chancellor), and is occupied by Government ministers. The opposition frontbench is occupied by shadow ministers, of which the most senior form the Shadow Cabinet. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... The term Speaker is usually the title given to the presiding officer of a countrys lower house of parliament or congress (ie: the House of Commons or House of Representatives). ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... A minister or a secretary is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e. ... The Shadow Cabinet (also called the Opposition Front Bench) is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster System of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition (or the leader of other smaller opposition parties) form an alternative cabinet to the governments, whose...
The 11 frontbenchers signed the letter before Christmas and are sending it now as they try to stop Mr Kennedy standing in the forthcoming leadership election.
Mr Cable said he was not threatening to resign but the position of a lot of frontbenchers "would have to be thought through...depending on what happens over the next few days".
Frontbencher Sandra Gidley, who signed the letter, said: "Charles must think hard about whether he has the personal strength to fight the triple demons of the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the drink problem."
"Michael's position is incredi-bull," one frontbencher said as he laughed at Mr Howard's declaration over the weekend that he would not have voted in favour of the war in the Commons last year had he known there would be no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq.
To the astonishment of MPs, who remember the arch-Atlanticist's strong support for George Bush in the run-up to the war, Mr Howard insisted that he still supported the war and was merely objecting to the government's Commons motion which mentioned WMD.
Conservative MPs had braced themselves for a miserable return to Westminster after their poor performance in last week's byelections when the party slumped to third place in both contests.
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