It is the 5th October 1935. The Prime Minister has called an emergency meeting of Cabinet to deal with the question of Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia two days previously. Each of his Ministers has been briefed by their department and are ready to report back to the PM. At the end of the meeting the PM will sum up what will be the government’s response.
The class will be divided into groups of five. Each student is to research the attitude of their allocated Cabinet minister and his department of state and prepare their ‘brief’ for the emergency meeting. Tradition dictates that the Prime Minister will call on the Foreign Secretary to speak first but after that discussion should be improvised under the guidance of the PM. When everyone has had their say, it is the job of the PM to summarise the views of the meeting and reach a conclusion that all members of the Cabinet will defend together in public.
For more details see the IST website.