Category talk:British ministries

Consistent conventions for British ministry/government articles
The below text was copied from Talk:List of British ministries.


 * The consistent usage plan I feel we should embrace is as follows:


 * 1) Articles that cover the ministries of one PM should be titled “Name ministry”, e.g. Major ministry.
 * 2) Articles that cover the ministries of two or more PMs should be named “Party Government xxxx-xxxx”, e.g. Labour Government 1974-1979.
 * 3) PMs are combined in an article because the primary source, Butler’s British Political Facts, lists them that way.
 * 4) That was done (in the source) because few ministers changed in the ministry, even though the PM changed.
 * 5) Each article of these types should contain a cabinet shortlist and a full list of ministers, along with a brief history and image.
 * 6) The use of the term “ministry” is sanctioned by sources such as Butler's British Political Facts and Dod’s Parliamentary Companion.
 * 7) “Ministry" refers to all ministers of a government, not just the cabinet, but does not include the Civil Service.
 * 8) In the event that a PM served non-consecutive terms, his ministries should be titled “First Name ministry”, “Second Name ministry” and so on.
 * 9) Ministries traditionally begin after each election, even if the same Prime Minister is reelected. For our purposes, we shall consider consecutive terms worth one “ministry article”.
 * 10) There are exceptions, for example, Margaret Thatcher has been granted First Thatcher ministry, Second Thatcher ministry and so on.
 * 11) These are determined by the relative importance of each term, and the length of the PM’s time in office.
 * 12) Ministries with a special historical name, e.g. First National ministry, should be titled as such.

I have continued to touch up articles, add images, merger them, and so forth, following this plan. This has cut waste, given us better articles, and given us a consistent plan of usage. Please help out if you can, by touching up articles on this list, and by helping merge and rename the Victorian ministry articles, which are currently quite a mess. Thanks. RGloucester (talk) 02:19, 4 May 2012 (UTC)