what is a member of the privy council? What do they do, how do they get the job, how much do they get paid?

Question

can anybody do the job

Answer 1

The Privy Council consists of different parts. The one I know is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which consists of Law Lords from the House of Lords, plus one or two judges from a Commonwealth Country involved, to hear on final appeal a case from a participating Commonwealth territory (Channel Islands, Gibraltar, certain Commonwealth countries, especially in the Caribbean). At the end of each opinion (judgment) it is written that the Council shall "humbly advise her majesty to ... [act in-such and-such a way" regarding the appeal. Thus the fiction is maintained that the P.C. is advisory in nature, when in fact it is a final court of appeal with a binding decision-making power.

Here's one of the last P.C. decisions made in respect of Canada (before the Canadian Supreme Court was made the final court of appeal there). It is a rather outrageous decision, but there you are -- or were: the hatred of ethnic Japanese following the war won out. http://uniset.ca/other/ths/cooperative.html

There are other aspects to the Privy Council involving political matters, not judges.

In French, it's known as the Conseil privé -- which tells you a bit of what "privy" really means: private.

Answer 2

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, especially in a monarchy. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret". A privy council was thus originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors, who could give him confidential advice on affairs of state.

A privy council is roughly equivalent to what non-monarchial nations such as the United States would call a "cabinet"; although some nations have both a privy council organized around the monarch and a cabinet organized around the prime minister. In the UK the cabinet is actually a committee that is part of the privy council, and is probably its most powerful committee.

Answer 3

The privy council is a body of advisors to the British sovereign - HM the Queen. It's power is largely ceremonial these days, and mostly held by one of it's sub-committees - the "cabinet" - this is the prime minister and all of his front-bench MPs, who pledge allegiance to the privy council upon taking office. The leader of the opposition and his senior team are usually appointed as privy councilors as well, plus three senior CofE ecclesiastics (including the archbishops of Canterbury & York) and various senior judges, senior royal family members and lords. The bulk of the membership - which are appointed by the queen (on the advice of government) are politicians. The prime minister of New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries get sworn in as members too. There are about 200 privy councillors at the moment.

Answer 4

A member of the privy council is a toilet attendant, expert on the removal of skid marks. A high degree of thoroughness is required for an eligible candidate to gain the post, wish is paid on the receipt of photographic evidence.