Among the MPs voting against the government were all three of the privy counsellors on the Newton Committee which reviews terrorism legislation.
Most of Queen Mary's reign he spent abroad, but on Elizabeth's accession he was made a privy counsellor and vice-chamberlain.
Everything except the proposal for a committee of privy councillors to review the bill within two years and report to the Home Secretary was rejected.
The proceedings of Cabinets - after the 18th century collapse in the real power of privy counsellors - were secret and unified by the notion of collective responsibility.
A coalition of MPs, including Tories and Labour rebels, prepared to trigger a parliamentary inquiry by privy counsellors into the conduct of Blair and his ministers on the Iraq war.
Synonyms
member of the government, political leader, cabinet minister, secretary of state, secretary, undersecretary, department head, politician