Parliamentary, My Dear Watson Trivia Quiz

Answer: Clement Attlee

Attlee was the first man to hold the title of Deputy Prime Minister, which he held during the coalition government formed during World War II. His support enabled Churchill to continue Britain's war efforts, when others were urging that peace negotiations were the better option. Attlee became Prime Minister following a landslide victory after the end of the war, and remained in office until 1951.

The other men named were all members of Attlee's first cabinet, with Dalton being Chancellor of the Exchequer while Cripps was President of the Board of Trade. Bevan was Minister of Health and was largely responsible for the introduction of Britain's National Health Service.

Answer: Richard

Richard Austen Butler was universally known as 'Rab', due to his initials. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1951 until 1955, Foreign Secretary between 1963 and 1964 and Home Secretary from 1957 until 1962. Despite holding so many senior government posts, Butler never became Prime Minister. Butler was the owner of Gatcombe Park, which he sold to Queen Elizabeth II in 1976 as a home for the recently married Princess Anne.

Answer: Margaret Thatcher

Howe was the second of Margaret Thatcher's two deputies and had previously held the posts of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary. Howe resigned from the government in November 1990, with his resignation speech expressing criticism of Thatcher's handling of Britain's role in the European Union.

The speech brought about a leadership challenge to Thatcher from Michael Heseltine and her failure to win the support of her party led to Mrs Thatcher's resignation as party leader and Prime Minister later that month.

She was succeeded by John Major.

Answer: Tarzan

Heseltine was also occasionally referred to as Goldilocks, but Tarzan was far more common. He earned it after brandishing the ceremonial mace in the House of Commons in 1976 in protest at the opposition MPs singing 'The Red Flag'. Although Heseltine served in the Cabinet, he was never a leader of the Conservative Party and the highest position he held (apart from being Major's deputy) was Secretary of State for Defence, in Margaret Thatcher's government, from 1983 until 1986.

Heseltine retired as an MP in 2001 and was given a life peerage, as Baron Heseltine, as a reward for his years of political service.

Answer: Liberal Democrat

Britain's General Election in 2010 gave no one political party an overall majority. The Labour Party, under Gordon Brown, were in power but conceded defeat once the Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, had negotiated an agreement with Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats to form a coalition.

Although his party had won only 57 seats, compared to the Conservative's 306 and Labour's 258, Clegg's support was essential to enable a government to be formed. Clegg became leader of his party only in December 2007 when he defeated Chris Huhne.

Answer: True

Anthony Eden was Foreign Secretary from 1935 until 1938, when he resigned. He became an 'anti appeaser' and is widely believed to have opposed Chamberlain's attempts to negotiate with the fascist leaders Mussolini and Hitler. Eden returned to the role when Churchill became Prime Minister in December 1940 and remained in office until July 1945.

He had a third stint in the position from 1951 until 1955. Eden became Prime Minister in early 1955, when Churchill retired. His premiership was marred by the Suez Crisis of 1956, and Eden resigned in January 1957, primarily for health reasons.

Answer: Peter Mandelson

Mandelson was a major influence during Labour's government, first under Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown. He was forced to resign twice, in 1998 and in 2001, following allegations of wrongdoing. The first time was due to non-disclosure of a loan and the second was over accusations (from which he was cleared) he had tried to influence a passport application.

The position of First Secretary of State is awarded only occasionally, and is viewed by some as an alternative to the title of Deputy Prime Minister. Derek Draper, Alastair Campbell and Charlie Whelan were all political advisers, or 'spin doctors', for the Labour party.

Answer: William Whitelaw

Willie Whitelaw was a senior Cabinet member for both Mrs Thatcher and her predecessor as Prime Minister, Edward Heath. As well as being her deputy, he was also Home Secretary from 1979 until 1983, during which time he took a hard line on law and order.

In 1983, he was given a hereditary peerage, which was unusual as most were given only for the lifetime of the recipient. As Viscount Whitelaw, he acted as Leader of the House of Lords until resigning in 1988 following a stroke. William Hague was leader of the Conservative Party from 1997 until 2001. William Gladstone was a member of the Liberal Party and was Prime Minister on four separate occasions during the nineteenth century. William Pitt (the Younger) became Britain's Prime Minister in 1783.

Answer: False

Morrison was actually the grandfather of Peter Mandelson, Brown's First Secretary of State. Herbert Morrison was the Deputy of Clement Attlee and stood as a candidate for the leadership himself when Attlee retired, but his age (67) was against him. He was also a member of the wartime coalition government, and his name was given to the Morrison shelter, designed to be used inside houses as protection against air raids. Morrison stood down from politics in 1959 and went on to become President of the British Board of Film Censors.

Answer: Merchant Navy steward

John Prescott worked for Cunard as a steward before becoming a full time official of the National Union of Seaman. He was Tony Blair's deputy throughout Blair's time as Prime Minister. Prescott resigned his post at the same time that Blair stood down and Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. Having had work experience, and with a background of being a trade union activist, Prescott was widely seen as representing the 'old school' of the Labour Party, representing the interests of the 'working class'.

He was created a life peer in 2010, becoming Baron Prescott.