A Chocolate Soldier was a

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary assistant for an

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

front bench 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 kn ...

spokesman in the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...

in the early 1970s, funded by the

Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust {{Use British English, date=January 2018 The four Rowntree Trusts are funded from the legacies of the Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree. The trusts are based in the Rowntrees' home c ...

, which was endowed by the chocolate entrepreneur Joseph Rowntree. The scheme was a pilot project to assist the opposition to carry out parliamentary duties and counteract the advantage that

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

s enjoy through briefings from

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s, and was instigated by the trust's secretary, Pratap Chitnis. In 1974, the scheme was given official parliamentary support through the provision of

Short Money Short Money is the common name given to the annual payment to opposition parties in the United Kingdom House of Commons to help them with their costs. It includes funding to assist an opposition party in carrying out its Parliamentary business, ...

to opposition parties, announced by Edward Short on 29 July 1974. The Rowntree Trust made a similar fund available to the opposition in the late 1980s, to assist with travel expenses. This funding ceased in 1992, after the provision of Short Money was expanded to add a travel element.

Chocolate Soldiers

Many Chocolate Soldiers later made a significant contribution in the public sphere. Among the assistants funded by the Rowntree Trust were: *

Matthew Oakeshott Matthew Alan Oakeshott, Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay (born 10 January 1947), is a British investment manager and member of the House of Lords, formerly sitting in Parliament as a Liberal Democrat. Early life and education Matthew Alan Oakesh ...

, assistant to

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

Archy Kirkwood Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, (born 22 April 1946) is a British Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician. Education Kirkwood was educated at Cranhill Secondary School in Cranhill, Glasgow and studied phar ...

''The Joseph Rowntree Inheritance, 1904-2004''
, p.11

References

House of Commons of the United Kingdom Political funding in the United Kingdom {{UK-poli-stub

Chocolate Soldiers

Further reading

References