the.com/shadow cabinet
The opposition's dress rehearsal for power, heckling from the understudy's chair.
means A team of opposition politicians who each track a specific government minister, ready to critique policy and step into power if their party wins.
from A British parliamentary coinage, first used in the early 19th century, that pictures the opposition front bench as a mirror-image government lurking just out of the light — the same shape as the cabinet in power, minus the substance of office. The term took hold as party politics hardened in the UK and later spread to other Westminster-style parliaments (Australia, Canada, New Zealand), wherever an opposition formally assigns its own 'minister' to shadow each real one.
- origin
- British tradition, formalized in the 1900s
- function
- each member shadows a real minister's portfolio
- perk
- practice governing without the blame of governing
- irony
- paid opposition to criticize the people paying them