minister

A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the 'prime minister', 'premier', 'chief minister', 'chancellor' or other title. In Commonwealth realm jurisdictions which use the Westminster system of government—such as the United Kingdom and Australia—ministers are usually required to be members of one of the houses of Parliament or legislature—or to be appointed to one if not—and are usually from the political party that controls a majority in the lower house of the legislature. These ministers continue to represent their constituency in parliament while being part of the government. In other jurisdictions with strict sep...