Scottish Government’s Cabinet Meet in Inverness

The Scottish Government’s Cabinet met today (Tuesday) in the same Inverness room where Lloyd George held his Cabinet in 1921.

The historic gathering of the UK Cabinet on September 7, 1921 was convened by Prime Minister Lloyd George and resulted in the “Inverness Formula”, which paved the way for the treaty which created the Irish Free State. It remains the only Cabinet meeting of the UK Government to be held outside London.

Signatories at Cabinet Meeting held in Inverness were: The Rt. Hon David Lloyd George, Prime Minster; The Rt. Hon J Austen Chamberlain, Lord Privy Seal; The Rt. Hon Viscount Birkenhead, Lord Chancellor; The Rt. Hon Sir Robert Stevenson Horne, Chancellor of the Exchequer; The Rt. Hon Edward Shortt, Secretary of State Home Office; The Rt. Hon E S Montagu, Secretary for India; The Rt. Hon Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Col. The Rt. Hon Sir Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary of Ireland; Sir Eric Geddes, Minister of Transport; The Rt. Hon Stanley Baldwin, President of the Board of Trade; The Rt. Hon Sir Alfred Mond, Minister of Health: The Rt. Hon Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, Secretary of State for War; The Rt. Hon Sir Arthur Griffiths-Boscawen, Minister of Agriculture & Fisheries; The Rt. Hon Robert Munro, Secretary for Scotland; The Rt. Hon T J Macnamara, Minister of Labour; The Rt. Hon Winston S Churchill, Secretary of State for Colonies, and; Thomas Jones, Acting Secretary of the Cabinet.

Council Officer, William Bain passed a sheet of paper round the sixteen cabinet members for their signatures. A copy of the paper is on display behind the Provost’s chair. The original is in Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.

The Cabinet’s meeting in Inverness is the second of a series of four to be held during the summer recess outwith Holyrood, Edinburgh. On 26 August, the Cabinet will meet in Sleat, Skye.