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Lord Privy Seal

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This page is about the traditional office in the United Kingdom; for the Japanese office, see Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan

The Lord Privy Seal or Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state in the United Kingdom. Originally, its holder was responsible for the monarch's personal ("privy") seal (as opposed to the Great Seal of State, which is in the care of the Lord Chancellor). Today, the holder of the office is invariably given a seat in the Cabinet.

Though one of the oldest offices in government anywhere, it has no particular function today; thus the office has generally been used as a kind of Minister without Portfolio. Since the end of the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, the position of Lord Privy Seal has frequently been combined with that of Leader of the House of Lords or Leader of the House of Commons. The jocular clarification that the office holder is neither a lord, nor a privy, nor a seal, though sometimes credited to Edward Heath, was attributed by him to Ernest Bevin. This pithy comment echoes that of Voltaire on the Holy Roman Empire – namely that it was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire; similar observations have been made about the Indian Civil Service.

The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State, beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain.

The term "Lord Privy Seal" (as in "not bad, but it's a bit Lord Privy Seal") is used in the British TV news industry as shorthand for the mistake of associating pictures too closely and literally with every element of the accompanying spoken script, leading to an incoherent finished piece. The origin is a TV comedy sketch taking the practice to an extreme, which backed a "news report" mention of the Lord Privy Seal with videos, in quick succession, of a lord, an outdoor toilet, and a seal balancing a ball on its nose.

British Lords Privy Seal, 1307-Present

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