Red box (government)

Common card · No. 207201

Red boxes, or sometimes ministerial boxes, are a type of despatch box produced by Barrow Hepburn & Gale or Wickwar & Co and are used by ministers in the British government and the British monarch to carry government documents. Similar in appearance to a briefcase, they are primarily used to hold and transport official ministerial papers. Red boxes are one modern form of despatch boxes, which have been in government use for centuries. Despatch boxes of a very different design remain in use in the chamber of the lower house of the British and Australian parliaments. Those boxes hold religious books for swearing-in new members of the chamber, but are also used as lecterns by front bench members.

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