Mobiles banned from UK cabinet meetings

While Britian may be ringing in the changes after its general election last week, what won’t be ringing in Parliament are mobile phones – now banned from cabinet meetings.
The new cabinet under Prime Minister David Cameron has been sternly told that the distractions caused by cell phones – and Blackberrys specifically – would not be welcome and are not even to be brought into cabinet meetings, even in silent mode.
Cabinet meetings typically take place once a week and last about an hour and a half, so while the Prime Minister’s rule may be difficult for some crackberry addicts, it’s hardly an absurd request.
Of course, every new rule is made to be broken, and this particular one has already been violated by newly-appointed Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke who was promptly called out by an angry Cameron at his inaugural meeting of top ministers.
As the rest of Clarke’s colleagues giggled, the PM acidly instructed the chatty offender to hang up the phone so that he could get on with running the country.
There has been debate before about the use of mobile devices in British parliament and there was even a time when the devices were banned, but after pressure from prattle-happy politicos, the handsets were allowed as long as they remained on silent mode.
A couple of years ago there was even a case in which the Speaker of the house, Michael Martin, turned down a petition from MP Greg Mulholland to fine MPs whose phone rang whilst chamber was in session, claiming he was “powerless” to implement the idea.”
In a very un-political, un-hypocritical move, however, Cameron says he too will abide by his own phone ban.