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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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dispatch box
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In the past an everyday container in which to carry papers, surviving now as two separate features of British political life. One is the locked red-leather boxes in which papers are delivered to cabinet ministers and others. The other, deriving probably from such boxes used by speakers needing documents in the Houses of Parliament, is a permanent part of the furniture in both chambers. On the central table of each there are two wooden boxes, one on each side, from which ministers and leading opposition members speak. Their contents (oath cards, affirmation cards and various versions of the Old and New Testaments) relate solely to the swearing-in of members.
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