front benchnoun [ C ]
uk/ˌfrʌnt ˈbentʃ/us/ˌfrʌnt ˈbentʃ/one of the two rows of seats in the UK parliament used by leading members of the government and leading members of the main opposition party (= the party not in government), or the people who sit in these seats:
The prime minister's reply was met with howls of laughter from the opposition front bench.
a former front-bench Treasury spokeswoman
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backbench
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
UK politics: government administration & organisation
- awkward
- backbench
- bench
- collectivization
- D-notice
- decentralize
- maladministration
- midterm
- Number Ten
- ombudsman
- order paper
- outpost
- policy
- privatize
- prorogue
- public
- reshuffle
- soviet
- Westminster
- whip
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