THE POLITICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Contents:

1. Index

2. United Kingdom

3. Government and Politics of the United Kingdom

4. Parliament of the United Kingdom

5. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

6. Cabinet of the United Kingdom

7. House of Lords

8. House of Commons

9. Plurality Voting System

10. Formation of the United Kingdom

11. The Belfast Agreement

12. Constitutional Monarchy

13. The Royal Family

14. The Most Outstanding Monarchs in the History of the United Kingdom

15. List of Monarch of the British Isles

16. The Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom

17. The National Anthem of the United Kingdom

18. Flags and Saints

19. The Political map of the United Kingdom

20. Some of the Most Outstanding Personalities in the History of UK

21. Additions – pictures

22. Bibliography

1

UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United

Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a country and sovereign state that is situated in west Northern
Europe. Its territory and population are primarily situated on the island of Great Britain and in
Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland, with additional settlements on numerous smaller islands
in the surrounding seas. The United Kingdom is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and its ancillary
bodies of water, including the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea.
The mainland is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel and Northern Ireland shares a land border
with the Republic of Ireland.

The United Kingdom is a political union made up of four constituent countries: England,

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom also has several overseas territories,
including Bermuda, Gibraltar, Montserrat and Saint Helena among others. The dependencies of
the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, while possessions of the Crown and part of the British
Isles, are not part of the United Kingdom. A constitutional monarchy, the United Kingdom has close
relationships with fifteen Commonwealth Realms that share the same monarch — Queen Elizabeth
II — as head of state.

A member of the G8, the United Kingdom is a highly developed country with the fifth largest

economy in the world, estimated at US$1.8 trillion. It is the third most populous state in the
European Union with a population of 60.2 million and is a founding member of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN), where it holds a permanent seat on the
Security Council. The UK is also one of the world's major nuclear powers with its own nuclear
weapons.

After the end of the British Empire, the UK retains influence throughout the world because

of the extensive use of the English language as well as through the world-spanning
Commonwealth of Nations, headed by the Queen.

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GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf

of the monarch by the prime minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The
cabinet, including the prime minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's
Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative
body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and
not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The United Kingdom is one of the few countries in the
world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on traditional customs and
separate pieces of constitutional law.

Politics of the

United Kingdom

Politics of the United Kingdom take place in the framework of a parliamentary,

representative democratic monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government. It is a
pluriform multi-party system with a partial devolution of power in Scotland, Wales, and sometimes
Northern Ireland. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in
both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the House of Commons and the House
of Lords. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Its system of
government (known as the Westminster system) has been adopted by other countries, such as
Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Jamaica, countries which made
up part of the British Empire. The constitution is uncodified, being made up of constitutional
conventions, statutes and other elements.

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Monarchy

The head of state, theoretical and nominal source of executive, judicial and legislative

power in the UK is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. However, sovereignty in the
UK no longer rests with the monarch, since the English Bill of Rights in 1689, which established the
principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.

The British Sovereign possesses many hypothetical powers, including the right to choose

any British citizen to be her Prime Minister and the right to call and dissolve Parliament whenever
she wishes. However, in accordance with the current uncodified constitution, the Prime Minister is
the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, and Parliament is dissolved at the time
suggested by the PM. The monarch retains the ability to deny giving a bill Royal Assent, although
in modern times this becomes increasingly more unlikely, as it would cause a constitutional crisis.
Queen Anne was the last monarch to exercise this power, which she did on 11 March 1708 with
regard to a bill "for the settling of Militia in Scotland". Other royal powers called royal prerogative,
such as patronage to appoint ministers and the ability to declare war, are exercised by the Prime
Minister and the Cabinet, with the formal consent of the Queen.

Today the Sovereign has an essentially ceremonial role restricted in exercise of power by

convention and public opinion. However the monarch does continue to exercise three essential
rights: the right to be consulted, the right to advice and the right to warn. As a consequence of
these ideals, Prime Ministers hold weekly confidential meetings with the monarch.

In formal terms, the Crown in Parliament is sovereign even though in practical terms the

political head of the UK is the Prime Minister (Tony Blair since 2 May 1997). However, the real
powers of position of the Monarch in the British Constitution should not be downplayed. The
monarch does indeed retain some power, but it has to be used with discretion. She fulfils the
necessary constitutional role as head of state, and with the absence of a distinct separation of
powers as in the American model and a strong second chamber, acts as a final check on executive
power. If a time came to pass, for instance, when a law threatened the freedom or security of her
subjects, the Queen could decline royal assent, free as she is from the eddies of party politics.
Furthermore, armed removal of her by Parliament or Government would be difficult, as the
Monarch remains commander-in-chief of the armed forces, who swear an oath of allegiance to her.

4

Executive

The Government performs the Executive functions of the United Kingdom on behalf of the

Sovereign, in whom executive power is theoretically and nominally vested. The monarch appoints
a Prime Minister, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the member of
the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of the House.
The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as
political heads of the various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior
government ministers make up the Cabinet.

As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon the

Westminster System), the executive (called "the government") is drawn from and is answerable to
Parliament - a successful vote of no confidence will force the government either to resign or to
seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In practice members of parliament of all
major parties are strictly controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy.
If the government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to be
unable to pass legislation.

In November 2005, the Blair government suffered its first defeat, on a proposal to extend

the period for detaining terrorist suspects to 90 days. Before this, the last bill proposed by a
government that was defeated in the House of Commons was the Shop Hours Bill in 1986, one of
only three in the 20th century. Governments with a small majority or coalition governments are
much more vulnerable to defeat. They sometimes have to resort to extreme measures, such as
"wheeling in" sick MPs, to get the necessary majority. Margaret Thatcher in 1983 and Tony Blair in
1997 were swept into power with such large majorities that even allowing for dissent within their
parties, they were assured of winning practically all parliamentary votes, and thus were able to
implement radical programmes of legislative reform and innovation. But other Prime Ministers,
such as John Major in 1992, who enjoy only slender majorities, can easily lose votes if relatively
small numbers of their backbench MPs reject the whip and vote against the Government's
proposals. As such, Governments with small majorities find it extremely difficult to implement
controversial legislation and tend to become bogged down cutting deals with factions within their
party or seeking assistance from other political parties.

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Government departments

The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known mainly, though not
exclusively as departments, e.g. Ministry of Defence. These are politically led by a Government
Minister who is often a Secretary of State and member of the Cabinet. He or she may also be
supported by a number of junior Ministers.

Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically neutral

organization known as the civil service. Its constitutional role is to support the Government of the
day regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike some other democracies, senior civil
servants remain in post upon a change of Government. Administrative management of the
Department is led by a head civil servant known in most Departments as a Permanent Secretary.
The majority of the civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are separate
operational organisations reporting to Departments of State.

"Whitehall" is often used as a synonym for the central core of the Civil Service. This is

because most Government Departments have headquarters in and around the former Royal
Palace of Whitehall.

Legislative

Parliament is the centre of the political system in the United Kingdom. It is the supreme

legislative body (i.e., there is parliamentary sovereignty), and Government is drawn from and
answerable to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of
Lords.

6

House of Commons

T The UK is divided into parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population (decided by
the Boundary Commission), each of which elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of
Commons. Of the 646 MPs there is currently only one who does not belong to a political party. In
modern times, all Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition have been drawn from the
Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his peerages days after becoming
Prime Minister in 1963, and the last Prime Minister before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the
Marquess of Salisbury).

One party usually has a majority in Parliament, because of the use of the First Past the

Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two party system. The
monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government simply whether it can
survive in the House of Commons, something which majority governments are expected to be able
to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch asks someone to 'form a government' with a
parliamentary minority which in the event of no party having a majority requires the formation of a
coalition government. This option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-
time. It was given in 1916 to Andrew Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George. It
is worth noting that a government is not formed by a vote of the House of Commons, merely a
commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its first chance to indicate confidence
in the new government when it votes on the Speech from the Throne (the legislative programme
proposed by the new government).

House of Lords

The House of Lords was previously a hereditary, aristocratic chamber. Major reform has

been partially completed and it is currently a mixture of hereditary members, bishops of the Church
of England known as Lords Spiritual and appointed members (life peers, with no hereditary right for
their descendants to sit in the House). It currently acts to review legislation formed by the House of

7

Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and exercises a suspensive veto. This allows
it to delay legislation it does not approve of for twelve months. However, the use of vetoes is
limited by convention and the operation of the Parliament Acts: the Lords may not veto the "money
bills" or major manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto can also
be overturned by the Parliament Act by the Commons. Often governments will accept changes in
legislation in order to avoid both the time delay, and the negative publicity of being seen to clash
with the Lords.

The House of Lords is currently also the final court of appeal within the United Kingdom,

although in practice only a small subset of the House of Lords, known as the Law Lords, hears
judicial cases. However, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlines plans for a Supreme Court of
the United Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords.

Judiciary

The Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary in England and Wales. He appoints judges

and magistrates for criminal courts on behalf of the Sovereign. The Lord Chancellor fell into all the
three branches of government, taking roles in the executive, legislature and judiciary, which is a
peculiarity amongst many liberal democracies in the world today. However, the Constitutional
Reform Act 2005 removes much of the power in this role and gives it to others in the British
government, mainly the newly created post of Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. Another
part of The Lord Chancellor's duties in the House of Lords have been replaced by a dedicated
"Lord/Lady Speaker", who acts as a permanent presiding officer for the House of Lords.

8

The British Governmental System

Devolved Powers

In addition to the House of Commons, Scotland now has its own parliament and Wales and

Northern Ireland have assemblies. Some members of the devolved bodies are elected by a form of
proportional representation. Although the new devolved governments have some legislative and
other powers, they do not have the same powers as the UK parliament. As devolved systems of
government, they have no constitutional right to exist and can have their powers broadened,
narrowed or changed by an Act of the UK Parliament.

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Thus, the United Kingdom is said to have a unitary state with a devolved system of

government. This contrasts with a federal system, in which sub-parliaments or state parliaments
and assemblies have a clearly defined constitutional right to exist and a right to exercise certain
constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally abolished by Acts of
the central parliament.

England

T

The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly although

several pressure groups are calling for one. One of their main arguments is that MPs (and thus
voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers. Currently an MP from Scotland can
vote on legislation which affects only England but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot
vote on matters devolved to the Scottish parliament. Indeed, current Home Secretary John Reid,
who is an MP for a Scottish constituency, runs a department which deals primarily with England
and Wales. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.

The policy of the UK Government in England was to establish elected regional assemblies

with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of these, established in 2000,
following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were abandoned following rejection of a proposal
for an elected assembly in North East England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional
assemblies remain in place in eight regions of England.

Northern Ireland

T

The current government of Northern Ireland was established as a result of the 1998 Good

Friday Agreement. This created the Northern Ireland Assembly which is currently under
suspension. The Assembly is a unicameral body consisting of 108 members elected under the
Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation. The Assembly is based on the
principle of power-sharing, in order to ensure that both communities in Northern Ireland, unionist
and nationalist, participate in governing the region. When fully operational, it has power to legislate
in a wide range of areas and to elect the Northern Ireland Executive (cabinet). It sits at Parliament
Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.

The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as "transferred

matters". These matters are not explicitly enumerated in the Northern Ireland Act 1998 but instead
include any competence not explicitly retained by the Parliament at Westminster. Powers reserved

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by Westminster are divided into "excepted matters", which it retains indefinitely, and "reserved
matters", which may be transferred to the competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future
date. Health and education are "transferred" but criminal law and police are "reserved" and royal
succession, defence and international relations are all "excepted".

While the Assembly is in suspension, its legislative powers are exercised by the UK

government, which effectively has power to legislate by decree. Laws that would normally be within
the competence of the Assembly are passed by the UK government in the form of Orders-in-
Council rather than legislative acts.

Scotland

T

The current Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998 and its first

meeting as a devolved legislature was on 12 May 1999. The parliament has the power to pass
laws and has limited tax-varying capability. Another of its jobs is to hold the Scottish Executive to
account. The "devolved matters" over which it has responsibility include education, health,
agriculture, and justice. A degree of domestic authority, and all foreign policy, remains with the UK
Parliament in Westminster.

The public take part in Parliament in two ways that are not the case at Westminster: a

public petitioning system, and Cross Party Groups on policy topics which the interested public join
and attend meetings of alongside Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

Wales

T

The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in

Wales, and is also responsible for most UK government departments in Wales. The Assembly was
formed under the Government of Wales Act 1998, by the Labour government, after a referendum
in 1997, (also supported by Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats), approved its creation.

There is no legal or constitutional separation of the legislative and executive functions of the

National Assembly, since it is a single corporate entity. Compared with other parliamentary
systems, and other UK devolved countries, this is highly unusual. In reality there is some sort of
day to day separation, and the terms "Assembly Government" and "Assembly Parliamentary
Service" have been used to distinguish between the two arms. It is proposed to regularise the
separation, and it is considered likely that the UK Parliament will pass the necessary legislation.

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Although the Assembly is a legislature, it currently does not have primary legislative or

fiscal powers, as these powers had been reserved by Westminster. However, the position is set to
change with the passing of the Government of Wales Bill in 2006.

Elections and Parties

U

Unlike many European nations, the United Kingdom uses a first-past-the-post system to

elect members of Parliament. Therefore, elections and political parties in the United Kingdom are
affected by Duverger's Law, which causes the agglomeration of related political ideologies into a
few large parties with many small parties rarely winning representation.

Historically, the United Kingdom had two major political parties, though currently three

parties dominate the political landscape. Originally, the Conservatives and the Liberals dominated
British politics, but the Liberal Party collapsed in the early twentieth century and was largely
replaced by the Labour Party. In the 1980s, the Liberals merged with the Social Democratic Party
and have recently experienced resurgence as the Liberal Democrats, enough so to again be
considered a major party. In addition to the three major parties, many minor parties contest
elections. Of these, few except for regional parties such as the Scottish National Party and
Democratic Unionist Party win seats in Parliament.

In the most recent general election in 2005, the Labour Party won re-election on a reduced

majority, with both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats making gains at the expense of
Labour.

Electoral Systems

Various electoral systems are used in the UK:



The First Past the Post system is used for general elections, and also for some local
government elections in England and Wales (previously in Scotland).



The Bloc Vote system is also used for some local government elections in England and
Wales (previously in Scotland).



The Additional Member System was introduced after devolution in 1999 for the Scottish
Parliament, Welsh Assembly and London Assembly.



The Single Transferable Vote system is used to elect the Northern Ireland Assembly and
Northern Ireland's local councils. It will also be used for the next elections to councils in
Scotland in 2007.



The party list is used for European Parliament elections.

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

The Supplementary Vote is used to elect directly-elected mayors, such as the Mayor of
London.

In the last few general elections, voter mandates for Westminster in the 40% ranges have

been swung into 60% parliamentary majorities. No government has won a majority of the popular
vote since the National Government of Stanley Baldwin in 1935. Twice since World War II (in in
1951 and February 1974) the party with fewer popular votes actually came out with the larger
number of seats. One reason for all the quirks is that Britain has many political parties, making it
possible to win individual constituencies on less than 50% of the vote due to the opposition votes
being divided.

Electoral reform has been considered for general elections many times, but after the

Jenkins Commission report in October 1998, which suggested the Alternative vote top-up for
general elections was effectively ignored by the government, there have been no further
government proposals for reform. It is highly unlikely that electoral reform will happen unless there
is a significant change in the balance of power and Labour loses its large majority. Low turnout is a
concern, as the percentage of the electorate who voted in the last general election was just 61%.

History of Political Parties

UK political parties originated in 1662 in the aftermath of the English Civil War, with the

creation of the Court Party and the Country Party, soon becoming known as the Tories (now the
Conservative party, still commonly referred to as "the Tories") and the Whigs (now the Liberal
Democrats, though the term "Whig" has become obsolete). The two remained the main political
parties until the 20th century.

The term "Tory" originates from the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678-1681 - the Whigs were

those who supported the exclusion of the Roman Catholic Duke of York from the thrones of
England, Ireland and Scotland, and the Tories were those who opposed it. Both names were
originally insults: a "whiggamor" was a cattle driver, and a "tory" was an Irish term for an outlaw.

Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry and the Church of England, while

Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders (or "land magnates"),
expansion and tolerance. Both were still committed to the political system in place at that time.
Neither group could be considered a true political party in the modern sense.

The Rochdale Radicals were a group of more extreme reformists who were also heavily

involved in the Cooperative movement. They sought to bring about a more equal society, and are
considered by modern standards to be left-wing.

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After becoming associated with repression of popular discontent in the years after 1815, the

Tories underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence of Robert Peel, himself an
industrialist rather than a landowner, who in his 1834 "Tamworth Manifesto" outlined a new
"Conservative" philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good.

Though Peel's supporters subsequently split from their colleagues over the issue of free

trade in 1846, ultimately joining the Whigs and the Radicals to form what would become the Liberal
Party, Peel's version of the party's underlying outlook was retained by the remaining Tories, who
adopted his label of Conservative as the official name of their party.

The term 'Liberal Party' was first used officially in 1868, though it had been in use

colloquially for decades beforehand. The Liberal Party formed a government in 1870 and then
alternated with the Conservative Party as the party of government throughout the late 19th century
and early 20th century.

The Irish Parliamentary Party was set up to replace the Home Rule League in 1882. It remained
the third-largest party in British politics until 1918, often holding the balance of power.

In 1900, the Labour Representation Committee was established and it changed its name to

The Labour Party in 1906. After the First World War, this led to the demise of the Liberal Party as
the main reformist force in British politics. The existence of the Labour Party on the left of British
politics led to a slow waning of energy from the Liberal Party, ending with it taking third place in
national politics. After performing poorly in the elections of 1922, 1923 and 1924, the Liberal Party
was superseded by the Labour Party as the party of the left.

Following two brief spells in minority governments in 1924 and 1929-1931, the Labour Party

had its first true victory after World War II in the 1945 "khaki election". Throughout the rest of the
twentieth century, Labour governments alternated with Conservative governments. The
Conservatives were in power for most of the time, with the Labour Party suffering the "wilderness
years" of 1951-1964 (three straight General Election defeats) and 1979-1997 (four straight General
Election defeats).

During this second period, right-winger Margaret Thatcher, who became leader of the

Conservative party in 1975, made a fundamental change to Conservative policies, turning the
Conservative Party into a staunch neoliberal party. In the General Election of 1979 she defeated
James Callaghan's troubled Labour government after the winter of discontent.

For most of the 1980s and the 1990s under her successor John Major, Conservative

governments pursued policies of privatization, anti-trade-unionism, and Monetarism, now known
collectively as Thatcherism.

The Labour Party elected left-winger Michael Foot as their leader after their 1979 election

defeat, and he responded to dissatisfaction with the Labour Party by pursuing a number of radical

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policies developed by its grass-roots members. Several right-wing MPs formed a breakaway group
in 1981, called the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a move which split Labour and is widely
believed to have made Labour unelectable for a decade. The SDP formed an alliance with the
Liberal Party which contested the 1983 and 1987 general elections as a centrist alternative to
Labour and the Conservatives. After some initial success, the SDP did not prosper, and was
accused by some of splitting the anti-Conservative vote.

The SDP eventually merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats in 1988.

Support for the new party has increased since then, and the Liberal Democrats (often referred to
as LibDems) in 1997 and 2001 gained an increased number of seats in the House of Commons.

Labour were badly defeated by the Conservatives in the general election of 1983 and

Michael Foot was replaced by Neil Kinnock as leader of the Labour Party. Kinnock expelled the far
left-wing Militant Tendency group, and moderated many of the party's policies. He was replaced by
John Smith after Labour's narrow defeat in the 1992 general election.

Tony Blair became leader of the Labour party after John Smith's sudden death from a heart

attack in 1994. He continued to move the Labour Party back towards the right by loosening links
with the unions and embracing many of Margaret Thatcher's policies.

This, coupled with the professionalizing of the party machine's approach to the media, helped
Labour win the 1997 General Election with a historic landslide result. The Labour Party has moved
from being a democratic socialist party to being a social democrat party, giving it three landslide
victories but often alienating its core membership.

Current electoral landscape

In the 2005 General Election, the Labour Party consolidated its position in 2001, winning a

full third term - a first-time achievement for the Labour Party - under the leadership of Tony Blair,
who won Labour the 1997 election too.

This led to a crisis of confidence in the Conservative Party, which some would argue had

become complacent with its position as the 'natural party of government' after 18 years of power.
The party's drift to the right lost it many of its working-class voters, and its ageing membership
(average age 65) and vote (third party among the under 45s) meant that avoiding extinction
became a higher priority than winning an election. It appeared that Labour's drop in popularity in
2003-2004, coinciding with the Conservatives' appointment of Michael Howard as leader, might
make the Conservatives again a serious challenger to the Labour government. However, Tony
Blair's party secured a majority for the third time in May 2005, albeit with a greatly reduced
majority.

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After Labour’s third victory in the general election in 2005 the Conservative Party, under

Michael Howard knew that to regain power it must change both itself and perhaps more importantly
its image. Michael Howard tendered his resignation, but said that he would not resign with
immediate effect, as is the norm. Instead there was to be a long leadership campaign in which
there would be time to find the correct direction for the party. After this leadership campaign David
Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives under David Cameron
have seen their popularity grow, as is shown by their success at the Local Elections in May 2006
and the recent newspaper opinion polls which sometimes put them ahead of Labour, a position
that they have not been since the early 1990’s.

During the same time as the Conservative Party was finding its feet again the Labour

administration has been suffering from internal power-struggles as to when Tony Blair will step
down as Prime Minister and sleaze, as is evidenced by the “cash for peerages”, Regional Casino
bid affair and the failures of the Home Office to monitor immigration.

Major issues in current British national politics, in descending order of voter concern (as of MORI
poll April 2004), are:



Defence / Terrorism



Race relations / immigration



The NHS



Education



Law and order



Pensions and benefits



The state of the economy



European integration and the single currency



Housing and house prices



Taxation

Non-Parliamentary Political Parties

Two parties have no seats in Parliament, but multiple seats in the European Parliament and

a number of seats on local councils.



Green Party



United Kingdom Independence Party

The Greens also have two seats in the London Assembly; UKIP elected two members to

the London Assembly, but they subsequently quit the party and now sit as One London members.
Veritas has one Member of the European Parliament (MEP), its founder and former leader Robert

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Kilroy Silk, though he was elected for UKIP (which he later left). The Scottish National Party and
Scottish Socialist Party have seats in the Scottish Parliament, and Plaid Cymru have seats in the
Welsh Assembly, as well as each having a number of council seats. A number of other parties
have local councillors including the British National Party (BNP), the Liberal Party (in
Kidderminster), Mebyon Kernow (Cornish nationalist party) in Cornwall, and the Communist Left
Alliance (in Fife).

Regional Parties

Other political parties contest elections in constituent parts of the United Kingdom, seeking

autonomy or independence, for example:



Mebyon Kernow (Sons of Cornwall)



Plaid Cymru - Party of Wales



Scottish Green Party



Scottish National Party (advocating independent Scottish statehood within the European
Union)



Scottish Socialist Party (campaigning for a socialist Scottish republic)



English Democrats (campaigners for a separate English Parliament)

The SNP and Plaid Cymru work as a single parliamentary group in the UK and European

parliaments.

Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or district.

Examples include the Better Bedford Independent Party, one of the dominant parties in Bedford
Borough Council, led by Bedford's current Mayor, Frank Branston. The most notable local party is
Health Concern, which controls a single seat in the UK Parliament.

The Fringe Parties

Other political parties exist, but generally do not succeed in returning MPs to Parliament.

There is a tendency on the far left and right for a proliferation of tiny groups (also known by the
French term 'groupuscules'), sometimes characterized by extremely rigid ideologies and built
around personalities, that are constantly splitting to create new groups. Among them is the British
National Party, a successor party to the National Front.

Independents

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There are also a few independent politicians with no party allegiance. This normally occurs

only when an MP decides to break with his party in mid-session. Since 1950 only two MPs have
been elected as genuine independents, though others have been elected after breaking away from
their party:



Martin Bell represented the Tatton constituency in Cheshire between 1997 and 2001. He
was elected following a "sleaze" scandal involving the sitting Conservative MP, Neil
Hamilton -- Bell, a BBC journalist, stood as an anticorruption independent candidate, and
the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates from the election.



Dr. Richard Taylor MP was elected for the Wyre Forest constituency in the 2001 on a
platform opposing the closure of Kidderminster hospital. He later established Health
Concern, the party under which he ran in 2005.

Local Government

T

The UK is divided into a variety of different types of Local Authorities, with different

functions and responsibilities, which are further subdivided in rural areas and some urban areas
into parishes.

Local Authorities are responsible for such matters as administering education, public

transport, and the management of public spaces. Local authorities are often engaged in community
politics.

Parishes have councils too and some are known as city or town councils. These councils

are either made up of elected parish councilors, or in very small parishes, they use direct
democracy.

There are two common systems of local government in the UK: the old-style two-tier and

newer single-tier system. The older (and far more complex) two-tier system consists of District
Councils and County Councils. The District Councils are responsible for rubbish collection, granting
planning permission and council housing. County Councils are responsible for education, social
services, some public transport and other local functions.

Unitary Authorities, which are in use throughout the whole of Scotland, Wales and Northern

Ireland and in some areas in England, have a single tier of local government, and combine District
and County Council functions into one body.

In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared between the London

borough councils, and the Greater London Authority which is headed by an elected mayor.

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Unitary authorities often share common public safety authorities with other neighboring

councils. For example, Luton shares services with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire and Milton
Keynes (borough) shares services with Buckinghamshire.

European Union

The United Kingdom is a member of the European Union (EU). As such, UK citizens elect

Members of the European Parliament to represent them in the European Parliament in Brussels
and Strasbourg. The UK elects 78 MEPs.

In recent years, there have been divisions in both major parties as to whether the UK

should form greater ties within the EU, leave things as they are, or reduce the EU's supranational
powers. Opponents of greater European integration are known as Eurosceptics, supporters Pro-
Europeans. Divisions over Europe run deep in both major parties, and though the Conservative
Party was seen to split over this issue whilst in Government up to 1997, it is the Labour Party
which now faces conflicting views within Cabinet over UK involvement in the Euro and the new
European Constitution.

British nationalists have long campaigned against EU integration. The strong showing of the

eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2004 European Parliament
elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU.

19

PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme

legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary
sovereignty. At its head is the Sovereign.

The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house,

the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords
Spiritual (the senior bishops of the Church of England) and the Lords Temporal (members of the
Peerage); its members are not elected by the population at large. The House of Commons is a
democratically elected chamber. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of
Westminster (commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament"), in the City of Westminster in
London. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are
members of the House of Commons or House of Lords.

Parliament evolved from the early medieval councils that advised the sovereigns of England

and Scotland. In theory, power is vested not in Parliament, but in the "Queen-in-Parliament" (or
"King-in-Parliament"). The Queen-in-Parliament is often said to be a completely sovereign
authority, though such a position is debatable. In modern times, real power is vested in the House
of Commons; the Sovereign acts only as a figurehead and the powers of the House of Lords are
greatly limited.

The United Kingdom Parliament is sometimes called the "Mother of Parliaments", as the

legislative bodies of many states, most notably those of the members of the Commonwealth; are
modeled on it. However, it is a misquotation of John Bright, who had actually remarked
on 18 January 1865 that "England is the Mother of Parliaments", in the context of supporting
demands for expanded voting rights in a country that he considered had pioneered parliamentary
government.

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History

In the Middle Ages and early modern period there were three kingdoms within the British

Isles — England, Scotland and Ireland — and these developed separate parliaments. The 1707
Acts of Union brought England and Scotland together under the Parliament of Great Britain, and
the 1800 Act of Union included Ireland under the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Parliament of England

T

The English Parliament traces its origins to the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066, William

of Normandy brought a feudal system, where he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief
and ecclesiastics before making laws. In 1215, the tenants-in-chief secured the Magna Carta from
John and it was definitely signed at Runnymede on June 10th, 1215. The Magna Carta established
that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto
accustomed), save with the consent of his royal council, which slowly developed into a parliament.

When Henry III came to the throne he tried to centre all power into his own hands and again

and again demanded money from the Great Council. The barons refused to grant money. A civil
war began in 1264 and the avaricious and incompetent King supported by a group of powerful
barons was defeated by Simon de Montfort, leader of the lesser barons and the new merchant
class and poorer clergy, at the Battle of Lewes on 1264. In 1265, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of
Leicester summoned the first elected Parliament – from the French word parler = speak. This first
Parliament was indeed a revolutionary body and was in keeping with the changing class structure
of England. The franchise in parliamentary elections for county constituencies was uniform
throughout the country, extending to all those who owned the freehold of land to an annual rent of
40 shillings (Forty-shilling Freeholders). In the boroughs, the franchise varied across the country;
individual boroughs had varying arrangements. This set the scene for the so-called "Model
Parliament" of 1295 adopted by Edward I. By the reign of Edward III, Parliament had been
separated into two Houses: one including the nobility and higher clergy, the other including the
knights and burgesses, and no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both
Houses as well as of the Sovereign.

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The Laws in Wales Acts of 1535–42 annexed Wales as part of England and brought Welsh

representatives to Parliament.

When Elizabeth I was succeeded in 1603 by the Scottish King James VI, (thus becoming

James I of England), the countries both came under his rule but each retained its own Parliament.
James I´s successor, Charles I, quarreled with the English Parliament and, after he provoked the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms, their dispute developed into the English Civil War and in the
Bourgeois Revolution (1640-1649). In 1649 Charles was executed and under Oliver Cromwell's
Commonwealth of England the House of Lords was abolished, and the House of Commons made
subordinate to Cromwell. After Cromwell's death, the Restoration of 1660 restored the monarchy
and the House of Lords.

Amidst fears of a Roman Catholic succession, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed

James II (James VII of Scotland) in favour of the joint rule of Mary II and William III, whose
agreement to the English Bill of Rights (1689) introduced a constitutional monarchy, though the
supremacy of the Crown remained. For the third time, a Convention Parliament, i.e. one not
summoned by the king, was required to determine the succession.

Parliament of Scotland

F

From the time of Kenneth MacAlpin, the early Kingdom of Scotland (see Kingdom of Alba)

had been ruled by chieftains and petty kings under the suzerainty of the King of Scots, all offices
being filled through election by an assembly under the Gaelic system of tanistry, which combined a
hereditary element with the consent of those ruled. After Macbeth was overthrown by Malcolm III in
1057 the feudal system of primogeniture was gradually introduced, as Scotland came increasingly
under Norman influence.

In the High Middle Ages the King's Council of Bishops and Earls evolved into the

unicameral Estates of Parliament, with the colloquium at Kirkliston, of 1235 (the first meeting of
Parliament for which records survive), which had both a political and judicial role. From 1326 the
Three Estates (Scots: Thrie Estaitis) had clerics, lay tenants-in-chief and the burgh Commissioners
(approximately equivalent to early burgesses, later Members of Parliament, in the
contemporaneous Parliament of England) sitting in a single chamber, with powers over taxation
and a strong influence over justice, foreign policy, war, and legislation. The Parliament chose a
committee called the Lords of the Articles (comparable to a modern select committee) to draft
legislation, which was then presented to the full Parliament to be confirmed.

Following the Reformation and pressure from the Kirk, Catholic clergy were excluded from

1567, and after Protestant bishops were abolished in 1638 (see Bishops' Wars) the Scottish

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Parliament became an entirely lay legislature. During the reign of James VI, the Lords of the
Articles came more under the influence of the Crown, and following his accession to the throne of
England in 1603 (see Union of the Crowns) he used them to run Scotland from London. During the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the Covenanting period (1638–51) the Scottish Parliament took
control of the executive, effectively wresting sovereignty from Charles I. After Scotland was
invaded by Oliver Cromwell, his Protectorate government imposed a brief Anglo-Scottish
parliamentary union in 1657.

The Scottish Parliament returned after the Restoration of Charles II to the thrones of

England and Ireland in 1660 (he had already been crowned King of Scots at Scone on 1 January
1651). After the Glorious Revolution formally changed England's monarch in February 1689,
William II of Scotland (William III of England) summoned a Convention of the Estates, which
considered competing letters from both William and from James VII of Scotland (James II of
England), set out its terms and conditions in the Claim of Right, and duly proclaimed William and
Mary II to be the joint monarchs of Scotland, at Edinburgh on 11 April 1689.

Parliament of Ireland

T

The Irish Parliament was founded to represent the English community in the Lordship of

Ireland, while the native or Gaelic Irish were ineligible to vote or stand for office, the first known
meeting being in 1264. The English presence shrank to an enclave around Dublin known as the
Pale.

In 1541 Henry VIII declared the Kingdom of Ireland and embarked on the Tudor re-

conquest of Ireland. The Gaelic Irish lords were now entitled to attend the Irish Parliament as
equals of the majority of English descent. Disputes followed the introduction of Protestantism as
the state religion, when most of the population remained Roman Catholic, and in 1613–15
constituencies were fixed so that Protestant settlers held the majority in the Irish Parliament. After
the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Catholics were barred from voting or attending the Parliament in the
Cromwellian Act of Settlement 1652.

Under James II & VII, the Catholics regained ground and during the Jacobite war in Ireland

he agreed to the Irish Parliament's demands for autonomy and restitution of lands. After the victory
of William III of England these gains were reversed, with the Penal Laws making things worse.

23

Poyning's Law of 1494 had made the Irish Parliament subordinate to the Parliament of England,
but the Constitution of 1782 removed these restrictions and about a decade later Catholics gained
the right to vote, though they were still barred from membership.

Parliament of Great Britain

F

Following the Treaty of Union in 1707, Acts of Union were passed in both the Parliament of

England and the Parliament of Scotland, which created a new Kingdom of Great Britain. The Acts
dissolved both parliaments, replacing them with a new Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain
based in the former home of the English parliament. While Scots law and Scottish legislation
remained separate, the legislation was now dealt with by the new parliament.

After the Hanoverian George I ascended the throne in 1714, power began to shift from the

Sovereign, and by the end of his reign the position of the ministers — who had to rely on
Parliament for support — was cemented. Towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still
had considerable influence over Parliament, which was dominated by the English aristocracy and
by patronage. At general elections the vote was restricted to landed gentry, in constituencies that
were out of date, so that in many "rotten boroughs" seats could be bought while major cities
remained unrepresented. Reformers and Radicals sought parliamentary reform, but as the
Napoleonic Wars developed the government became repressive against dissent and progress
toward reform was stalled.

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created in 1801 by the merger of the

Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland.

The principle of ministerial responsibility to the lower House did not develop until the 19th

century — the House of Lords was superior to the House of Commons both in theory and in
practice. Members of the House of Commons were elected in an antiquated electoral system,
under which constituencies of vastly different sizes existed. Thus, the borough of Old Sarum, with
seven voters, could elect two members, as could the borough of Dunwich, which had completely
disappeared into the sea due to land erosion. In many cases, members of the Upper House also
controlled tiny constituencies, known as pocket or rotten boroughs, and could ensure the election
of their relatives or supporters. Many seats in the House of Commons were "owned" by the Lords.
After the reforms of the 19th century, beginning with the Reform Act of 1832, the electoral system

24

in the lower House was much more regularized. No longer dependent on the upper House for their
seats, members of the House of Commons began to grow more assertive.

Modern era

The supremacy of the House of Commons was clearly established during the early 20th

century. In 1909, the Commons passed the so-called "People's Budget," which made numerous
changes to the taxation system in a manner detrimental to wealthy landowners. The House of
Lords, which consisted mostly of powerful landowners, rejected the Budget. On the basis of the
Budget's popularity and the Lords' consequent unpopularity, the Liberal Party won the general
election in 1910. Using the result as a mandate, the Liberal Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith,
introduced the Parliament bill, which sought to restrict the powers of the House of Lords. (He did
not reintroduce the land tax provision of the People's Budget.) When the Lords refused to pass the
bill, Asquith approached the King and requested the creation of several hundred Liberal peers so
as to erase the Conservative majority in the House of Lords. In the face of such a threat, the House
of Lords reluctantly passed the bill. The Parliament Act 1911, as it became, allowed the Lords to
delay a bill for a maximum of three sessions (reduced to two sessions in 1949), after which it could
become law over their objections.

The Irish Free State became independent in 1922 and in 1927 the UK was renamed the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Further reforms to the House of Lords have been made during the 20th century. In 1958,

the Life Peerages Act authorized the regular creation of life peerage dignities. By the 1960s, the
regular creation of hereditary peerage dignities had ceased; thereafter, almost all new peers were
life peers only. More recently, the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of
hereditary peers to sit in the Upper House (although it made an exception for 92 of them on a
temporary basis). The House of Lords is now a chamber that is subordinate to the House of
Commons.

The Scottish Parliament was established as the devolved national unicameral legislature of

Scotland by the Scotland Act 1998, and it held its first meeting on 12 May 1999

Composition

At the head of Parliament is the British Sovereign. The Sovereign's role, however, is merely

ceremonial; in practice, he or she always acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and other
ministers, who are in turn accountable to the two Houses of Parliament.

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The Upper House is mostly made up of appointed members ("Lords of Parliament"). The

whole House is formally styled The Right Honorable The Lords Spiritual and Temporal in
Parliament Assembled, the Lords Spiritual being clergymen of the Church of England and the
Lords Temporal being Peers of the Realm. The Lords Spiritual and Lords Temporal are considered
separate "estates," but they sit, debate and vote together.

The Lords Spiritual formerly included all of the senior clergymen of the Church of England

— archbishops, bishops, abbots and priors. Upon the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry
VIII the abbots and priors lost their positions in Parliament. All diocesan bishops continued to sit in
Parliament, but the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847, and later acts, provide that only the 26 most
senior are Lords Spiritual. These always include the incumbents of the "five great sees", namely
the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of
Durham and the Bishop of Winchester. The remaining 21 Lords Spiritual are the most senior
diocesan bishops, ranked in order of consecration.

The Lords Temporal are all members of the Peerage. Formerly, they were hereditary peers.

The right of some hereditary peers to sit in Parliament was not automatic: after Scotland and
England united into Great Britain in 1707, it was provided that all peers whose dignities had been
created by English Kings could sit in Parliament, but those whose dignities had been created by
Scottish Kings were to elect a limited number of "representative peers." A similar arrangement was
made in respect of Ireland when that nation merged with Great Britain in 1801, but when southern
Ireland left the United Kingdom in 1922 the election of Irish representative peers ceased. By the
Peerage Act 1963, the election of Scottish representative peers also ended, and all Scottish peers
were granted the right to sit in Parliament. Under the House of Lords Act 1999, only life peerage
dignities (that is to say, peerage dignities which cannot be inherited) automatically entitle their
holders to seats in the House of Lords. Of the hereditary peers, only 92 — the Earl Marshal, the
Lord Great Chamberlain and the 90 elected by other peers — retain their seats in the House.

The Commons, the last of the "estates" of the Kingdom, are represented in the House of

Commons, which is formally styled The Honourable The Commons in Parliament Assembled
(commons coming not from the term commoner, but from commune, the old French term for a
district). The House currently consists of 646 members. Until the 2005 general election, it consisted
of 659 members, but the number of Scottish Members was reduced by the Scotland Act 1998.
Each "Member of Parliament" or "MP" is chosen by a single constituency according to the First-
Past-the-Post electoral system. Universal adult suffrage exists for those 18 and over; citizens of
the United Kingdom and those of the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth nations resident in
the United Kingdom are qualified to vote. The term of members of the House of Commons
depends on the term of Parliament; a general election, during which all the seats are contested,
occurs after each dissolution.

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The three components of Parliament are supposed to be kept separate from each other; no

individual may form a part of more than one component of Parliament. Lords of Parliament are
legally barred from voting in elections for members of the House of Commons; the Sovereign by
convention does not vote, although there is no statutory impediment.

Procedure

Both houses of the British Parliament are presided over by a speaker, the Speaker of the

House for the Commons and the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords.

For the Commons, the approval of the Sovereign is theoretically required before the

election of the Speaker becomes valid, but it is, by modern convention, always granted. The
Speaker's place may be taken by three deputies, known as the Chairman, First Deputy Chairman
and Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means. (They take their name from the Committee of
Ways and Means, of which they were once presiding officers, but which no longer exists.)

Prior to July 2006, the House of Lords was presided over by a Lord Chancellor (a Cabinet

member), whose influence as Speaker was very limited (whilst the powers belonging to the
Speaker of the House of Commons are vast). However, as part of the Constitutional Reform Act
2005, the position of Speaker of the House of Lords (as it is termed in the Act) was separated from
the office of Lord Chancellor, though the Lords remain largely self-governing. Decisions on points
of order and on the disciplining of unruly members are made by the whole body in the Upper
House, but by the Speaker alone in the Lower House. Speeches in the House of Lords are
addressed to the House as a whole (using the words "My Lords"), but those in the House of
Commons are addressed to the Speaker alone (using "Mr Speaker" or "Madam Speaker").

Both Houses may decide questions with voice voting; members shout out "Aye" and "No" in

the Commons — or "Content" and "Not-Content" in the Lords —, and the presiding officer declares
the result. The pronouncement of either Speaker may be challenged, and a recorded vote (known
as a division) demanded. (The Speaker of the House of Commons may choose to overrule a
frivolous request for a division, but the Lord Speaker does not have that power.) In each House, a
division requires members to file into one of the two lobbies alongside the Chamber; their names
are recorded by clerks, and their votes are counted as they exit the lobbies to re-enter the
Chamber. The Speaker of the House of Commons is expected to be non-partisan, and does not
cast a vote except in the case of a tie; the Lord Speaker, however, votes along with the other
Lords.

Term

27

Following a general election, a new Parliamentary session begins. Parliament is formally

summoned 40 days in advance by the Sovereign, who is the source of parliamentary authority. On
the day indicated by the Sovereign's proclamation, the two Houses assemble in their respective
chambers. The Commons are then summoned to the House of Lords, where Lords Commissioners
(representatives of the Sovereign) instruct them to elect a Speaker. The Commons perform the
election; on the next day, they return to the House of Lords, where the Lords Commissioners
confirm the election and grant the new Speaker the royal approval in the Sovereign's name.

The business of Parliament for the next few days of its session involves the taking of the

oaths of allegiance. Once a majority of the members has taken the oath in each House, the State
Opening of Parliament may occur. The Lords take their seats in the House of Lords Chamber, the
Commons appear at the Bar (immediately outside the Chamber), and the Sovereign takes his or
her seat on the throne. The Sovereign then reads the Speech from the Throne — the content of
which is determined by the Ministers of the Crown — outlining the Government's legislative agenda
for the upcoming year. Thereafter, each House proceeds to the transaction of legislative business.

By custom, before considering the Government's legislative agenda, a bill is introduced pro

forma in each House — the Select Vestries Bill in the House of Lords and the Outlawries Bill in the
House of Commons. These bills do not become laws; they are ceremonial indications of the power
of each House to debate independently of the Crown. After the pro forma bill is introduced, each
House debates the content of the Speech from the Throne for several days. Once each House
formally sends its reply to the Speech, legislative business may commence, appointing
committees, electing officers, passing resolutions and considering legislation.

A session of Parliament is brought to an end by a prorogation. There is a ceremony similar

to the State Opening, but much less well-known. Normally, the Sovereign does not personally
attend the prorogation ceremony in the House of Lords; he or she is represented by Lords
Commissioners. The next session of Parliament begins under the procedures described above, but
it is not necessary to conduct another election of a Speaker or take the oaths of allegiance afresh
at the beginning of such subsequent sessions. Instead, the State Opening of Parliament proceeds
directly. To avoid the delay of opening a new session in the event of an emergency during the long
summer recess, Parliament is no longer prorogued beforehand, but only after the Houses have
reconvened in the autumn; the State Opening follows a few days later.

Each Parliament comes to an end, after a number of sessions, either by the command of

the Sovereign or by effluction of time, the former being more common in modern times. The
dissolution of Parliament is effected by the Sovereign, always on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister may seek dissolution because the time is politically advantageous to his or her
party. If the Prime Minister loses the support of the House of Commons, he must either resign or
seek dissolution of Parliament to renew his or her mandate.

28

Originally there was no fixed limit on the length of a Parliament, but the Triennial Act 1694

set the maximum duration at three years. As the frequent elections were deemed inconvenient, the
Septennial Act 1716 extended the maximum to seven years, but the Parliament Act 1911 reduced
it to five. During the Second World War, the term was temporarily extended to ten years by Acts of
Parliament. Since the end of the war the maximum has remained five years. Modern Parliaments,
however, rarely continue for the maximum duration; normally, they are dissolved earlier. For
instance, the 52nd, which assembled in 1997, was dissolved after four years.

Formerly, the demise of the Sovereign automatically brought a Parliament to an end, the

Crown being seen as the caput, principium, et finis (beginning, basis and end) of the body, but this
is no longer the case. The first change was during the reign of William and Mary, when it was seen
to be inconvenient to have no Parliament at a time when succession to the Crown could be
disputed, and an act was passed that provided that a Parliament was to continue for six months
after the death of a Sovereign, unless dissolved earlier. The Representation of the People Act
1867 brought this arrangement to an end.

After each Parliament concludes the Crown issues writs to hold a general election and elect

new members of the House of Commons. Membership of the House of Lords does not change due
to dissolution. Each Parliament that assembles following a general election is deemed to be
distinct from the one which just concluded, and is separately numbered, the present Parliament
being the Fifty-Fourth Parliament of the United Kingdom since the formation of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. (Previous Parliaments were "of Great Britain" or "of England",
"of Scotland" or "of Ireland".)

Legislative functions

Laws can be made by Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament. While Acts can apply to the

whole of the UK including Scotland, due to the continuing separation of Scots law many Acts do
not apply to Scotland and are either matched by equivalent Acts that apply to Scotland alone or,
since 1999, by legislation set by the Scottish Parliament relating to devolved matters.

This has led to what is known as the West Lothian question: the situation where

Westminster MPs for Scottish constituencies may vote on legislation that will have no effect on
Scotland. For example, the Higher Education Act 2004 passed only with the votes of Scottish MPs,
but the act had no bearing on Scotland.

Laws, in draft form known as bills, may be introduced by any member of either House, but

usually a bill is introduced by a Minister of the Crown. A bill introduced by a Minister is known as a
"Government Bill"; one introduced by another member is called a "Private Member's Bill". A
different way of categorizing bills involves the subject. Most bills, involving the general public, are

29

called "Public Bills". A bill that seeks to grant special rights to an individual or small group of
individuals is called a "Private Bill." A Private Bill which has broader public implications is called a
"Hybrid Bill".

Private Members' Bills make up only about one in eight of bills, and are far less likely to be

passed than government bills. There are three methods for an MP to introduce a Private Member's
Bill.

The Private Members' Ballots put names into a ballot, and those who win are given time to

propose a bill. The Ten Minute Rule is another method, where MPs are granted ten minutes to
outline the case for a new piece of legislation. Standing Order 58 is the third method, which allows
a bill to be introduced without debate if a day's notice is given to the Speaker. Filibustering is a
danger, as an opponent to a bill can waste much of the limited time allotted to it. Private Members'
Bills have no chance of success if the current government opposes them, but they are used in
moral issues: the bills to decriminalize homosexuality and abortion were Private Members' Bills, for
example. Governments can sometimes attempt to use Private Members' Bills to pass things it
would rather not be associated with. "Handout bills" are when a government hands proposed bills
to MPs who win Private Members' Ballots.

Each Bill goes through several stages in each House. The first stage, called the first

reading, is a formality. At the second reading, the general principles of the bill are debated, and the
House may vote to reject the bill, by not passing the motion "That the Bill be now read a second
time". Defeats of Government Bills are extremely rare, the last being in 2005.

Following the second reading, the bill is sent to a committee. In the House of Lords, the

Committee of the Whole House or the Grand Committee are used. Each consists of all members of
the House; the latter operates under special procedures, and is used only for uncontroversial bills.
In the House of Commons, the bill is usually committed to a Standing Committee, consisting of
between 16 and 50 members, but the Committee of the Whole House is used for important
legislation. Several other types of committees, including Select Committees, may be used, but
rarely. A committee considers the bill clause by clause, and reports its proposed amendments to
the entire House, where further detailed consideration occurs. However, the kangaroo (Standing
Order 31) allows the Speaker to select which amendments are debated. This device is commonly
used under Standing Order 89 by the committee chairman on behalf of the government, to restrict
debate in committee.

Once the House has considered the bill, the third reading follows. In the House of

Commons, no further amendments may be made, and the passage of the motion "That the Bill be
now read a third time" is passage of the whole bill. In the House of Lords further amendments to
the bill may be moved. After the passage of the third reading motion, the House of Lords must vote
on the motion "That the Bill do now pass." Following its passage in one House, the bill is sent to
the other House. If passed in identical form by both Houses, it may be presented for the

30

Sovereign's Assent. If one House passes amendments that the other will not agree to, and the two
Houses cannot resolve their disagreements, the bill fails.

However, since the passage of the Parliament Act 1911 the power of the House of Lords to

reject bills passed by the House of Commons has been restricted, and further restrictions were
placed by the Parliament Act 1949. If the House of Commons passes a public bill in two
successive sessions, and the House of Lords rejects it both times, the Commons may direct that
the bill be presented to the Sovereign for his or her Assent, disregarding the rejection of the Bill in
the House of Lords. In each case,

the bill must be passed by the House of Commons at least one calendar month before the end of
the session. The provision does not apply to bills originated in the House of Lords, to bills seeking
to extend the duration of a Parliament beyond five years, or to Private Bills. A special procedure
applies in relation to bills classified by the Speaker of the House of Commons as "Money Bills". A
Money Bill concerns solely national taxation or public funds; the Speaker's certificate is deemed
conclusive under all circumstances. If the House of Lords fails to pass a Money Bill within one
month of its passage in the House of Commons, the Lower House may direct that the Bill be
submitted for the Sovereign's Assent immediately.

Even before the passage of the Parliament Acts, the Commons possessed pre-eminence in

cases of financial matters. By ancient custom, the House of Lords may not introduce a bill relating
to taxation or Supply, nor amend a bill so as to insert a provision relating to taxation or Supply, nor
amend a Supply Bill in any way. The House of Commons is free to waive this privilege, and
sometimes does so to allow the House of Lords to pass amendments with financial implications.
The House of Lords remains free to reject bills relating to Supply and taxation, but may be
overruled easily if the bills are Money Bills. (A bill relating to revenue and Supply may not be a
Money Bill if, for example, it includes subjects other than national taxation and public funds).

The last stage of a bill involves the granting of the Royal Assent. Theoretically, the

Sovereign may either grant the Royal Assent (that is, make the bill a law) or withhold it (that is,
veto the bill). Under modern conventions the Sovereign always grants the Royal Assent, in the
Norman French words "La reyne le veult" (the Queen wishes it). The last refusal to grant the
Assent was in 1708, when Queen Anne withheld her Assent from a bill "for the settling of Militia in
Scotland", in the words "La reyne s'avisera" (the Queen will think it over).

Thus, every bill obtains the assent of all three components of Parliament before it becomes

law (except where the House of Lords is over-ridden under the Parliament Acts). The words "BE IT
ENACTED by the Queen's [King's] most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same, as follows:-", or, where the House of Lords' authority has been overridden by
use of the Parliament Acts, the words "BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's [King's] most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament

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assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the
authority of the same, as follows:-" appear near the beginning of each Act of Parliament. These
words are known as the enacting formula.

Judicial functions

In addition to its legislative functions, Parliament also performs several judicial functions.

The Queen-in-Parliament constitutes the highest court in the realm for most purposes, but the
Privy Council has jurisdiction in some cases (for instance, appeals from ecclesiastical courts). The
jurisdiction of Parliament arises from the ancient custom of petitioning the Houses to redress
grievances and to do justice. The House of Commons ceased considering petitions to reverse the
judgements of lower courts in 1399, effectively leaving the House of Lords as the court of last
resort. In modern times, the judicial functions of the House of Lords are performed not by the whole
House, but by a group of "Lords of Appeal in Ordinary" (judges granted life peerage dignities under
the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 by the Sovereign) and by "Lords of Appeal" (other peers with
experience in the judiciary). The Lords of Appeal in Ordinary and Lords of Appeal (or "Law Lords")
are Lords of Parliament, but normally do not vote or speak on political matters.

In the late 19th century, Acts allowed for the appointment of Scottish Lords of Appeal in

Ordinary and ended appeal in Scottish criminal matters to the House of Lords, so that the High
Court of Justiciary became the highest criminal court in Scotland. Nowadays the House of Lords
legislative committee usually has a minimum of two Scottish Judges to ensure that some
experience of Scots law is brought to bear on Scottish appeals in civil cases, from the Court of
Session.

Certain other judicial functions have historically been performed by the House of Lords.

Until 1948, it was the body in which peers had to be tried for felonies or high treason; now, they are
tried by normal juries. When the House of Commons impeaches an individual, the trial takes place
in the House of Lords. Impeachments are now rare; the last one occurred in 1806. As of 2006, a
number of MPs are attempting to revive the custom, who have signed a motion for the
impeachment of the Prime Minister, but this is unlikely to succeed.

Relationship with the Government

The British Government is answerable to the House of Commons. However, neither the

Prime Minister nor members of the Government are elected by the House of Commons. Instead,
the Queen requests the person most likely to command the support of a majority in the House,
normally the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons, to form a government. So that
they may be accountable to the Lower House, the Prime Minister and most members of the

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Cabinet are members of the House of Commons. The last Prime Minister to be a member of the
House of Lords was Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home, who became Prime Minister in 1963.
To adhere to the convention under which he was responsible to the Lower House, he disclaimed
his peerage and procured election to the House of Commons within days of becoming Prime
Minister.

Governments have a tendency to dominate the legislative functions of Parliament, by using

their in-built majority in the House of Commons, and sometimes using their patronage power to
appoint supportive peers in the Lords. In practice, governments can pass any legislation (within
reason) in the Commons they wish, unless there is major dissent by MPs in the governing party.
But even in these situations, it is highly unlikely a bill will be defeated, though dissenting MPs may
be able to extract concessions from the government. In 1976, Lord Hailsham created a now widely
used name for this behavior, in an academic paper called "elective dictatorship".

Parliament controls the executive by passing or rejecting its Bills and by forcing Ministers of

the Crown to answer for their actions, either at "Question Time" or during meetings of the
parliamentary committees. In both cases, Ministers are asked questions by members of their
Houses, and are obliged to answer.

Although the House of Lords may scrutinize the executive through Question Time and

through its committees, it cannot bring down the Government. A ministry must always retain the
confidence and support of the House of Commons. The Lower House may indicate its lack of
support by rejecting a Motion of Confidence or by passing a Motion of No Confidence. Confidence
Motions are generally originated by the Government in order to reinforce its support in the House,
whilst No Confidence Motions are introduced by the Opposition. The motions sometimes take the
form "That this House has [no] confidence in Her Majesty's Government" but several other
varieties, many referring to specific policies supported or opposed by Parliament, are used. For
instance, a Confidence Motion of 1992 used the form, "That this House expresses the support for
the economic policy of Her Majesty's Government." Such a motion may theoretically be introduced
in the House of Lords, but, as the Government need not enjoy the confidence of that House, would
not be of the same effect as a similar motion in the House of Commons; the only modern instance
of such an occurrence involves the No Confidence Motion that was introduced in 1993 and
subsequently defeated.

Many votes are considered votes of confidence, although not including the language

mentioned above. Important bills that form part of the Government's agenda (as stated in the
Speech from the Throne) are generally considered matters of confidence. The defeat of such a bill
by the House of Commons indicates that a Government no longer has the confidence of that
House. The same effect is achieved if the House of Commons "withdraws Supply", that is, reject
the budget.

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Where a Government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister

is obliged either to resign, or seek the dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. Where
a Prime Minister has ceased to retain a majority in that vote and requests a dissolution, the
Sovereign can in theory reject his request, forcing his resignation and allowing the Leader of the
Opposition to be asked to form a new government. This power is used extremely rarely. The
conditions that should be met to allow such a refusal are known as the Lascelles Principles. These
conditions and principles are merely informal conventions; it is possible, though highly improbable,
for the Sovereign to refuse dissolution for no reason at all.

In practice, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is very weak. Since the

first-past-the-post electoral system is employed in elections, the governing party tends to enjoy a
large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other parties.
Modern British political parties are so tightly organized that they leave relatively little room for free
action by their MPs. In many cases, MPs may be expelled from their parties for voting against the
instructions of party leaders.

Sovereignty

Several different views have been taken of Parliament's sovereignty. According to the jurist

Sir William Blackstone, "It has sovereign and uncontrollable authority in making, confirming,
enlarging, restraining, abrogating, repealing, reviving, and expounding of laws, concerning matters
of all possible denominations, ecclesiastical, or temporal, civil, military, maritime, or criminal … it
can, in short, do every thing that is not naturally impossible."

A different view has been taken by the Scottish judge Lord Cooper of Culross. When he

decided the 1953 case of MacCormick v. Lord Advocate as Lord President of the Court of Session,
he stated, "The principle of unlimited sovereignty of Parliament is a distinctively English principle
and has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law." He continued, "Considering that the Union
legislation extinguished the Parliaments of Scotland and England and replaced them by a new
Parliament, I have difficulty in seeing why the new Parliament of Great Britain must inherit all the
peculiar characteristics of the English Parliament but none of the Scottish." Nevertheless, he did
not give a conclusive opinion on the subject. Thus, the question of Parliamentary sovereignty
appears to remain unresolved. Parliament has not passed any Act defining its own sovereignty.

Parliament's power has often been eroded by its own Acts. Acts passed in 1921 and 1925

granted the Church of Scotland complete independence in ecclesiastical matters. More recently, its
power has been restricted by membership of the European Union, which has the power to make
laws enforceable in each member state. In the Factortame case, the European Court of Justice
ruled that UK courts could have powers to overturn UK legislation contravening EU law. Parliament
has also created national devolved assemblies with legislative authority in Scotland, Wales and

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Northern Ireland. Parliament still has the power over areas for which responsibility lies with the
devolved institutions, but would usually ask permission of those institutions to act on its behalf.
Similarly, it has granted the power to make regulations to Ministers of the Crown, and the power to
enact religious legislation to the General Synod of the Church of England. (Measures of the
General Synod and, in some cases proposed statutory instruments made by ministers, must be
approved by both Houses before they become law.) In every case aforementioned, authority has
been conceded by Act of Parliament and may be taken back in the same manner. It is entirely
within the authority of Parliament, for example, to abolish the devolved governments in Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland or to leave the EU. However, especially in the case of withdrawing
from EU membership, the costs of such a move would prevent it from occurring.

One well-recognized exception to Parliament's power involves binding future Parliaments.

No Act of Parliament may be made secure from amendment or repeal by a future Parliament. For
example, although the Act of Union 1800 states that the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland are
to be united "forever", Parliament permitted southern Ireland to leave the UK in 1922.

Privileges

Each House of Parliament possesses and guards various ancient privileges. The House of

Lords relies on inherent right. In the case of the House of Commons, the Speaker goes to the
Lords' Chamber at the beginning of each new Parliament and requests representatives of the
Sovereign to confirm the Lower House's "undoubted" privileges and rights. The ceremony
observed by the House of Commons dates to the reign of Henry VIII. Each House is the guardian
of its privileges, and may punish breaches thereof. The extent of parliamentary privilege is based
on law and custom. Sir William Blackstone states that these privileges are "very large and
indefinite," and cannot be defined except by the Houses of Parliament themselves.

The foremost privilege claimed by both Houses is that of freedom of speech in debate;

nothing said in either House may be questioned in any court or other institution outside Parliament.
Another privilege is that of freedom from arrest except for high treason, felony or breach of the
peace; it applies during a session of Parliament, and 40 days before or after such a session.
Members of both Houses are also privileged from service on juries.

Both Houses possess the power to punish breaches of their privilege. Contempt of

Parliament — for example, disobedience of a subpoena issued by a committee — may also be
punished. The House of Lords may imprison an individual for any fixed period of time, but an
individual imprisoned by the House of Commons is set free upon prorogation. The punishments
imposed by either House may not be challenged in any court.

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PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

The Prime Minister is in practice the most important political office in the United Kingdom.

He acts as the head of Her Majesty's Government and like other Prime Ministers in Westminster
Systems is (along with his Cabinet) the de facto source of executive power in the British
Government. As such, he exercises many of the executive functions nominally vested in the
Sovereign, the theoretical source of executive power in the British Government. According to
custom, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (which he or she heads) are accountable for their
actions to Parliament, of which they are members by modern convention. The current Prime
Minister is Tony Blair (of the Labour Party), who has been in office since May 1997. For the
complete list of British Prime Ministers, see List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom.

As the title suggests, the Prime Minister is the monarch's principal advisor. Historically, the

monarch's chief minister (if, as was not always the case, any one person could be singled out as
such) might have held any of a number of offices: Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord
High Steward, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Privy Seal, or Secretary of State among others.
With the emergence, in the 18th century, of government by a cabinet of these ministers, its head
came in time to be called the "Prime Minister" (sometimes also "Premier" or "First Minister"). The
first person to be officially called "Prime Minister" was Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. To this day
the Prime Minister always also holds one of the more specific ministerial positions (Since 1905 that
of First Lord of the Treasury), as well as Minister for the Civil Service. Sir Robert Walpole is
generally regarded as the first Prime Minister in the modern sense, although technically it is Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman, as Walpole only held the title of First Lord of the Treasury.

The Prime Minister is appointed by the Sovereign, who is bound by constitutional

convention to choose the individual most likely to command the support of the House of Commons
(normally, the leader of the party with a majority in that body). Should the Prime Minister lose the
confidence of the House of Commons (indicated, for example, by the passage of a no confidence
motion), he or she is morally obliged by similar conventions either to resign (in which case the
Sovereign can try to find another Prime Minister who has the House's confidence) or to request the
monarch to call a general election. Since the premiership is in some small sense still a de facto
position, the office's powers are mainly a matter of custom rather than law, deriving from the
incumbent's ability to appoint (through the Sovereign) his or her Cabinet colleagues, as well as
from certain uses of the royal prerogative which may be exercised directly by the Prime Minister, or
by the Monarch on the Prime Minister's advice. Some commentators have pointed out that, in
practice, the powers of the office are subject to very few checks, especially in an era when

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Parliament and the Cabinet are seen as unwilling to challenge dominant Prime Ministers as they
are bound by a policy of collective cabinet responsibility.

History

The bulk of the power over the Government of the United Kingdom has historically been

vested in the Sovereign, acting on the advice of bodies such as Parliament and the Privy Council.
Over several years, the Cabinet evolved from the Privy Council, as the monarch began the practice
of consulting a few confidential advisers rather than the Council at large. These bodies, however,
bore little resemblance to modern Cabinets; they were often not led by a single figure such as a
Prime Minister, they often failed to act in unison, and they were appointed and dismissed entirely at
the whim of the monarch, with little parliamentary control.

The history of the British Prime Ministers owes much more to speculation of historians,

rather than to legal acts. The origin of the term prime minister and the question to whom the
designation should first be applied have long been issues of scholarly and political debate.

The first mention of "Prime Minister" in an official government document occurred during

the premiership of Benjamin Disraeli. The title was used since then in documents, letters and
conversation (and in conversation at least may have been used before then). In 1905 the title
"Prime Minister" was noted in a royal warrant that placed the Prime Minister, mentioned as such, in
the order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York. By this time legal
recognition of the title seems to have occurred and it was later mentioned in the Chequers Estate
Act 1917, and the Ministers of the Crown Act 1937.

There are numerous categorical testimonies deep into the 19th century decrying the notion

of a First or Prime Minister, credibly declaring the concept alien to the Constitution, and the term
actually emerges as a creature of historians, not lawyers or Parliament — indeed the contrary is
best documented.

In 1741, it was declared in the Commons that "According to our Constitution we can have

no sole and prime minister . . . every . . . officer has his own proper department; and no officer
ought to meddle in the affairs belonging to the department of another." In the same year the Lords
agreed that "We are persuaded that a sole, or even a first minister, is an officer unknown to the law
of Britain, inconsistent with the Constitution of the country and destructive of liberty in any
Government whatsoever." These were very much partisan assessments of the day, however.

On the other hand, in an interview by Lord Melville with William Pitt in 1803, the latter

argued that "this person generally called the first minister" was an absolute necessity for a

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government to function, and expressed his belief that this person should be the minister in charge
of the finances. In 1806, it was asserted in the Commons that "the Constitution abhors the idea of
a prime minister", and as late as 1829 the Commons again asserted that "nothing could be more
mischievous or unconstitutional than to recognise by act of parliament the existence of such an
office."

Beatson's Political Index of 1786 gives the list of Prime Ministers and Favourites from the

Accession of Henry VIII to the Present Time. Since 1714, Beatson could only find one Sole
Minister, and that was Sir Robert Walpole. At all subsequent periods he felt that he had to bracket
two, three, or even four people as joint or co-equal ministers whose advice the King took, and who
therefore controlled the governance of the country.

The first Act of Parliament to mention the office of Prime Minister was the Chequers Estate

Act, which received the Royal Assent on December 20, 1917. It dealt with the gift to the Crown of
the Chequers Estate by Sir Arthur and Lady Lee, for use as a country home for future Prime
Ministers.

Finally, the Ministers of the Crown Act, which received the Royal Assent on July 1, 1937,

gave official recognition to the position of Prime Minister and made provision for paying "the First
Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister" — the two offices that since the 18th century, have
usually been held by the Prime Minister:

The Act made a certain distinction between "position" (Prime Minister) and "office" (First

Lord of the Treasury), emphasizing the unique character of the position and recognizing the
existence of the Cabinet. Nevertheless, in spite of this recognition, the brass plate outside the
Prime Minister's front door still bears the title of "First Lord of the Treasury."

The lack of official recognition for the position of Prime Minister sometimes causes

problems when trying to positively identify prime ministers in the British history. Thus, every list of
British Prime Ministers may omit certain politicians, depending on the criteria selected by a
researcher. For instance, unsuccessful attempts to form ministries, such as that of Lord Granville in
1746, or the summons of the sovereign to ministers who refused to form a ministry are often
ignored.

The origins of the modern term "Prime Minister" date back to the time after the Glorious

Revolution (1688), when Parliament's power began to grow steadily at the expense of that of the
monarch. It was under William III and his successor, Anne, that the Cabinet began to take its
modern shape. Individuals such as Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin and Robert Harley
were recognised as the leaders of their respective ministries, but they cannot be considered Prime
Ministers in the modern sense, given that they exercised little control over their colleagues.
Similarly, the Cabinets of Anne's successor, George I, were led by individuals such as Charles
Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, and Charles Spencer,

38

3rd Earl of Sunderland, but these individuals were not truly Prime Ministers, as we now understand
the office.

Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland, who were joint leaders of their Cabinet, were

succeeded in 1721 by Sir Robert Walpole, who held the influential office of First Lord of the
Treasury. Previous holders of the post had often been important figures in government, but not to
such a degree as Walpole. His influence grew even stronger because the King, George I, was not
active in English politics, preferring to concentrate on his native Hanover. Walpole is generally
regarded as the first Prime Minister, not just because of his influence in Government, but because
he could persuade (or force) his colleagues in the Cabinet to act in a harmonious and unified
fashion, instead of intriguing against each other for more power. Walpole's office, First Lord of the
Treasury, became strongly associated with the leadership of the Government; it became the
position which the Prime Minister almost always held.

Though Walpole is considered the first "Prime Minister," these words were used as a term

of reproach by his political opponents. His tenure was not as important in terms of constitutional
development as some have imagined. His term and power were primarily based on the favour of
the Crown, rather than the support of the House of Commons. His immediate successors were not
nearly as powerful as he; the influence of the Crown continued to remain paramount. Still, the
powers of the monarch were slowly diminished, and those of the Prime Minister gradually
increased, over the course of the following years. Indeed, during the last years of George II's life,
policy was chiefly directed by Ministers such as William Pitt the Elder.

The reign of George III, which began in 1760 upon the death of George II, is particularly

notable for developments in the office of Prime Minister. Over the course of his reign, the King was
sometimes forced by parliamentary pressure to appoint Prime Ministers and Ministers whom he did
not personally favor. Control over the composition of the Cabinet had not, however, been
completely lost by the King; in some cases, George was able to prevent the appointment of
politicians whom he detested (for instance, Charles James Fox). The influence of the monarch
nevertheless continued to gradually wane; this trend became clearly noticeable during the reign of
William IV, the last King to appoint a Prime Minister against the wishes of Parliament. William
attempted to impose his personal will in 1834, when he dismissed William Lamb, 2nd Viscount
Melbourne (whose Whig administration he disliked) and replaced him with a Tory, Sir Robert Peel.
Peel, however, found it impossible to govern without the support of the Whig-dominated House of
Commons, and was forced to resign from his position. Since Peel's administration, the Sovereign
has had very little discretion in appointing Prime Ministers; no monarch since William IV has
attempted to appoint a Prime Minister against the wishes of Parliament.

As the Royal influence over ministerial appointments disappeared, the power of the House

of Commons raised, its political superiority over the House of Lords being established by the
Parliament Act 1911. During the early twentieth century, the convention that the Prime Minister

39

should be responsible not to the Lords, but to the Commons, took root. The associated convention
that the Prime Minister should actually be a member of the Lower House was developed. The last
Prime Minister to lead his whole administration from the Lords was Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd
Marquess of Salisbury, from 1895 to 1902. Mention, however, must be made of the appointment of
Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home in 1963. Lord Home was the last Prime Minister who was a
peer, but, within days of attaining office, he disclaimed his peerage, abiding by the convention that
the Prime Minister should sit in the House of Commons. A junior member of his Conservative Party
who had already been selected as candidate in a by-election in a staunch Conservative seat stood
aside, allowing Douglas-Home to contest the by-election, win and thus procure a seat in the lower
House.

The office

Although in recent years it has never hindered any premier in the exercise of his or her

office, the official status of the Prime Minister remains somewhat ambiguous. A Prime Minister has
virtually no statutory authority in his or her own right; all the actual business of running the country
and spending the budget is (in theory) carried out by the holders of more explicitly-defined Cabinet
offices, who are empowered to do so by various Acts of Parliament. The Prime Minister holds at
least one of these more tangible ministerial offices himself—normally First Lord of the Treasury—
and indeed receives his or her salary and public accommodation only by virtue of that office.

The title "Prime Minister", however, is not altogether a matter of convention, as in 1905 it

was in a sense given official recognition when the "Prime Minister" was named in the "order of
precedence," outranked, among non-royals, only by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and
by the Lord Chancellor. The first prime minister in this sense is therefore considered by some to
have been Henry Campbell-Bannerman, although the term "Prime Minister" first appeared on
official documents during the premiership of Benjamin Disraeli and was used informally before
then. Furthermore, the office is not entirely without statutory justification, since it has in fact been
explicitly named a number of times in emergency wartime legislation. All sorts of official
pronouncements are issued from Downing Street in the name of the "Prime Minister" without
further circumlocution or explanation.

By convention, as noted above, the Prime Minister also holds the office of First Lord of the

Treasury. The only Prime Ministers who have not also served as First Lord for a significant part of
their administrations are William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (who was Lord Privy Seal) and, for most
of his three premierships, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (who was either
Foreign Secretary or Lord Privy Seal except for the first few months of his second premiership
when he was First Lord). Since Lord Salisbury's retirement in 1902, every Prime Minister has also
been First Lord of the Treasury. Some have held yet more offices; for example until 1942 nearly
every Prime Minister was either Leader of the House of Commons or Leader of the House of

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Lords, depending upon which House they sat in. Some have also held specific ministerial posts; for
example Ramsay MacDonald was both First Lord and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs during
his first premiership in 1924. Since the 1960s every prime minister has also been Minister for the
Civil Service.

More recently, there is also the associated post of Deputy Prime Minister. An officer with

such a title need not always exist; rather, the existence of the post is dependent on the form of
Cabinet organization preferred by the Prime Minister and his or her party. The Deputy Prime
Minister does not automatically succeed if a vacancy in the premiership is suddenly created, nor
does he or she generally assume any specific additional powers when the Prime Minister is outside
the country. It may, however, be necessary for the Deputy to stand in for the Prime Minister on
occasion, for example by taking the dispatch box at Prime Minister's Question Time or by attending
international conferences or bilateral meetings when the Prime Minister is unavailable. The present
Deputy Prime Minister is John Prescott.

In the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the position which
corresponds with that of Prime Minister is First Minister. (See First Minister of Scotland, First
Minister of Wales, and First Minister of Northern Ireland.)

Term

The office of Prime Minister is governed not by codified laws, but by unwritten and, to some

extent, fluid customs known as constitutional conventions, which have developed over years of
British history. These conventions are for the most part founded on the underlying principle that the
Prime Minister and his fellow Ministers must maintain the support of the democratically elected
component of Parliament: the House of Commons. The Sovereign, as a constitutional monarch,
always acts in accordance with such conventions, as do Prime Ministers themselves.

Whenever the office of Prime Minister falls vacant, the Sovereign is responsible for

appointing the new incumbent; the appointment is formalized at a ceremony known as Kissing
Hands. In accordance with unwritten constitutional conventions, the Sovereign must appoint the
individual most likely to maintain the support of the House of Commons: usually, the leader of the
party which has a majority in that House. If no party has a majority (an unlikely occurrence, given
the United Kingdom's First Past the Post electoral system), two or more groups may form a
coalition, whose agreed leader is then appointed Prime Minister. The majority party becomes "Her
Majesty's Government," and the next largest party becomes "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition." The
head of the largest Opposition party becomes the Leader of the Opposition and holds the title
Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

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The term of a Prime Minister is linked to the term of Members of the House of Commons.

Parliament has a maximum term of five years; in practice, however, it is usually "dissolved" sooner
by the Sovereign, acting on a request from the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister normally
chooses the moment most advantageous to his or her party for the dissolution. In some
circumstances, however, the Prime Minister may be compelled to dissolve Parliament (or, if he or
she prefers, to resign) by the House of Commons. The House may attempt to force the dissolution
by passing a Motion of No Confidence or by rejecting a Motion of Confidence. The same effect is
achieved if the House of Commons rejects the Budget ("withdraws Supply"), or if it rejects some
other important component of the Government's agenda. Such defeats for the Government,
however, are rare; there have only been three defeats on confidence issues since the nineteenth
century: twice in 1924, and once in 1979. The first in 1924 took place immediately after an
inconclusive election result and led to an immediate change of government, but in the other two
cases a general election was called (and in both, the incumbent government was defeated).

Whatever the reason—the expiry of Parliament's five-year term, the choice of the Prime

Minister, or a Government defeat in the House of Commons—the dissolution is followed by general
elections. If his or her party has lost a majority in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is
compelled to resign (or request a dissolution, but the Sovereign is not compelled to accept such a
request). The leader of the party or coalition now in the majority is then appointed Prime Minister
by the Sovereign. The custom that requires the Prime Minister to resign immediately after an
electoral loss was last broken by Edward Heath after the general election of February 1974, which
did not produce an absolute majority for any party. Heath opted not to resign immediately, instead
negotiating with a third party (the Liberal Party) to form a coalition. Heath did eventually resign
when the negotiations failed.

Lastly, defeats in general elections are not the only events which end Prime Ministerial

terms. For example, Margaret Thatcher left office because she no longer retained the support of
her own party. Prime Ministers are also free to resign for personal reasons (such as health
concerns). The last Prime Minister to die in office was Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount
Palmerston (in 1865). The only Prime Minister to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval (in 1812).

Powers and restraints

The Prime Minister's chief duty is to "form a Government"—that is to say, to create a

Cabinet or Ministry which will sustain the support of the House of Commons—when commissioned
by the Sovereign. He or she generally co-ordinates the policies and activities of the Cabinet and
the various Government departments, acting as the "face" of Her Majesty's Government. The
Sovereign exercises much of his or her royal prerogative on the Prime Minister's advice.

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The Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces is the Sovereign. Under longstanding

parliamentary custom and practice, however, the Prime Minister holds de facto decision-making
power over the deployment and disposition of British forces.

The Prime Minister also has a wide range of powers of appointment. In most cases, the

actual appointments are made by the Sovereign, but the selection and recommendation is made
by the Prime Minister. Ministers, Privy Counselors, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, senior
civil servants, senior military officers, members of important committees and commissions, and
several other officials are selected, and in some cases may be removed, by the Prime Minister.
Furthermore, peerages, knighthoods, and other honors are bestowed by the Sovereign only on the
advice of the Prime Minister. He also formally advises the Sovereign on the appointment of
Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England, but his discretion is limited by the existence of
the Crown Nominations Commission. The appointment of senior judges, while on the advice of the
Prime Minister for constitutional reasons, is now on the basis of recommendations from
independent bodies. The only important British honors over which the Prime Minister does not
have control are the Orders of the Garter, Thistle, and Merit, and the Royal Victorian Order, which
are all within the "personal gift" of the Sovereign. The extent of the Sovereign's ability to influence
the nature of the Prime Ministerial advice is unknown, but probably varies depending upon the
personal relationship between the Sovereign and the Prime Minister of the day.

There exist several limits on the powers of the Prime Minister. Firstly, he or she is

(theoretically at least) only a first among equals in the Cabinet. The extent of a Prime Minister's
power over the Cabinet may vary. In some cases, the Prime Minister may be a mere figurehead,
with actual power being wielded by one or more other individuals. Weak or titular Prime Ministers
were more common prior to the twentieth century; examples include William Cavendish, 4th Duke
of Devonshire and William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. At the opposite extreme,
however, Prime Ministers may dominate the Cabinet so much that they become "Semi-Presidents."
Examples of dominant Prime Ministers (more common during the late nineteenth and the twentieth
centuries) include William Ewart Gladstone, David Lloyd George, Neville Chamberlain, Sir Winston
Churchill, Margaret Thatcher (who was powerful enough as to be able to organize her Cabinet
without regard to Parliamentary conventions), and Tony Blair. The powers of some Prime Ministers
waxed or waned, depending upon their own level of energy, political skills or outside events:
Ramsay MacDonald, for example, was dominant in his Labour governments, but during his
National Government his powers diminished so that by his final years in Downing Street he was
merely the figurehead of the government. In modern times, Prime Ministers have never been
merely titular; dominant or somewhat dominant personalities are the norm.

The Prime Minister's powers are also limited by the House of Commons, whose support the

Government is obliged to maintain. The House of Commons checks the powers of the Prime
Minister through committee hearings and through Question Time, a weekly occurrence in which the
Prime Minister is obliged to respond to the questions of the Leader of the Opposition and other

43

members of the House. In practice, however, a Government with a strong majority need rarely fear
"backbench rebellions."

Members of Parliament may hold ministerial offices (by convention up to 90 offices, of

varying levels of seniority, exist), and may fear removal for failing to support the Prime Minister.
Party discipline, furthermore, is very strong; a Member of Parliament may be expelled from his or
her party for failing to support the Government on important issues, and although this will not mean
he or she must resign as an MP, it would make re-election difficult for most. Restraints imposed by
the House of Commons grow even weaker when the Government's party enjoys a large majority in
that House. In general, the Prime Minister and his or her colleagues may secure the House's
support for almost any bill.

However, even a government with a healthy majority can on occasion find it is unable to

pass legislation due to opposition from MPs. For example, on January 31 2006 Tony Blair's
Government was defeated over proposals to outlaw religious hatred, while on November 9 2005 it
was defeated over plans which would have allowed police to detain terror suspects for up to 90
days without charge. On other occasions, the Government may be forced to alter its proposals in
order to avoid defeat in the Commons, as Tony Blair's Government did in February 2006 over
education reforms. [1]

The House of Lords is considerably less restrictive of the Prime Minister's power. Under the

Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords normally does not seek to oppose any measure
promised by the Government in its election manifesto. When the House of Lords does oppose the
Prime Minister, it is generally ineffectual in defeating entire Bills (though almost all Bills are
successfully modified by the Upper House during their passage through Parliament). Peers
(members of the House of Lords) are created by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister;
by obtaining the creation of several new peers, the Prime Minister may flood the House of Lords
with individuals supportive of his position. The threat of such a tactic was used in 1911 to ensure
the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, which, together with the Parliament Act 1949, reduces the
House of Lords's powers and establishes the supremacy of the Commons (in particular, the House
of Lords can only delay, but not reject, most bills on which the Commons insist).

The role and power of the Prime Minister have been subject to much change in the last fifty

years. There has gradually been a change from Cabinet decision making and deliberation to the
dominance of the Prime Minister. As early as 1965, in a new introduction to Walter Bagehot's
classic work The English Constitution, Richard Crossman identified a new era of "Prime Ministerial"
government. Some commentators, such as the political scientist Michael Foley, have argued there
is a de facto "British Presidency". In Tony Blair's government, many sources such as former
ministers have suggested that decision-making is centered around him and Gordon Brown, and the
Cabinet is no longer used for decision making [2]. Former ministers such as Clare Short and Chris
Smith have criticised the total lack of decision-making in Cabinet. On her resignation, Short

44

denounced "the centralisation of power into the hands of the Prime Minister and an increasingly
small number of advisers"[3] The Butler Review of 2004 condemned Blair's style of "sofa
government".

Ultimately, however, the Prime Minister will be held responsible by the nation for the

consequences of legislation or of general government policy. Margaret Thatcher's party forced her
from power after the introduction of the poll tax; Sir Anthony Eden fell from power following the
Suez Crisis; and Neville Chamberlain resigned after being criticized for his handling of negotiations
with Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II, and for failing to prevent the fall of Norway to
the Nazi onslaught.

Precedence and privileges

The Prime Minister had no special precedence until the order of precedence first

recognized the office in 1905. Throughout the United Kingdom, he outranks all others except the
Royal Family, the Lord Chancellor, and senior ecclesiastical functionaries (in England and Wales,
the Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York; in Scotland, the Lord High Commissioner and
the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; in Northern Ireland, the
Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin and the Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church).

The Prime Minister draws his or her salary not as Prime Minister, but as First Lord of the

Treasury. At present, he or she receives Ł126,085, in addition to his or her salary as a Member of
Parliament (Ł59,686). The next increase is due on 1 November 2006. [1] Although the Prime
Minister is undoubtedly the most powerful figure in British government, his or her compensation is
not the highest amongst ministers: that distinction goes to the Lord Chancellor. However, the
current Lord Chancellor receives a Cabinet Minister (Lords) salary of Ł101,668. This is because he
is called by choice the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. If he was given the salary of the
Lord Chancellor it would be Ł213,899.

The Prime Minister traditionally resides at 10 Downing Street in London, which George II

offered to Sir Robert Walpole as a personal gift. Walpole, however, only accepted it as the official
home of the First Lord, taking up his residence there in 1735. One may note that the Prime Minister
only resides in 10 Downing Street in his or her capacity as First Lord; the few nineteenth century
Prime Ministers who were not First Lords were forced to live elsewhere. Though most First Lords
have lived in 10 Downing Street, some have preferred to reside in their private residences.
Furthermore, some such as Harold Macmillan and John Major have lived in Admiralty House whilst
10 Downing Street was undergoing renovations or repairs.

45

Adjacent to Downing Street is 11 Downing Street, the home of the Second Lord of the

Treasury (who, in modern times, has also filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer). After he
became Prime Minister in 1997, Tony Blair found 10 Downing Street too meager for his large
family, and he swapped residences with the Chancellor and Second Lord, Gordon Brown.
However, the Prime Ministerial offices are still maintained in Number 10. 12 Downing Street is the
residence of the Chief Whip, and these are the only three residences remaining in the road.

The Prime Minister is also entitled to use the country house of Chequers in

Buckinghamshire.

The Prime Minister, like other Cabinet Ministers and senior Members of Parliament, is

customarily a member of the Privy Council; thus, he or she becomes entitled to prefix "The Right
Honourable" to his or her name. Membership of the Council is retained for life (unless the
individual resigns it, or is expelled—both rare phenomena). It is a constitutional convention that
only a Privy Counsellor can be appointed Prime Minister, but invariably all potential candidates
have already attained this status. The only occasion when a non-Privy Councillor was the natural
appointment was Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, but the issue was resolved by appointing him to the
Council immediately prior to his appointment as Prime Minister.

Retirement honors

It is customary for the Sovereign to grant a Prime Minister some honor or dignity when that

individual retires from politics. The honor commonly, but not invariably, bestowed on Prime
Ministers is membership of the United Kingdom's most senior order of chivalry, the Order of the
Garter. The practice of creating retired Prime Ministers Knights of the Garter has been fairly
prevalent since the middle-nineteenth century. On the retirement of a Prime Minister who is
Scottish, it is likely that the primarily Scottish honor of the Order of the Thistle will be used instead
of the Order of the Garter, which is generally regarded as an English honor.

It has also been common for Prime Ministers to be granted peerages upon their retirement

from the premiership. (The grant of a peerage, which elevates the individual to the House of Lords,
may be delayed if the Prime Minister wishes to stay in the House of Commons for some more
time.) Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom (which was always hereditary).
However, since the 1960s, hereditary peerages have generally been eschewed, and life peerages
have been preferred. The granting of hereditary peerages was briefly renewed during the 1980s,
when former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton, but has not since
been continued (neither Margaret Thatcher nor John Major accepted hereditary peerages,
although Margaret Thatcher holds the non-hereditary title of Baroness Thatcher), and her husband,
the late Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt, was created a baronet (which is an hereditary title, but not a
peerage).

46

Of the eighteen Prime Ministers since 1902 (excluding the current holder of the office), eight

have been created both peers and Knights of the Garter; three have only been created peers;
three have only become Knights of the Garter; and four have not been granted either honor—in
two cases due to their death while still active in politics, in two others out of a wish to die a
commoner.

In November 2004, the polling company MORI, in association with the University of Leeds,
questioned 258 political science academics in the United Kingdom on the perceived success of
twentieth century Prime Ministers. The results showed that Clement Attlee was rated as most
successful, followed by Churchill and Lloyd George. Anthony Eden was rated as the least
successful.

CABINET OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

In the politics of the United Kingdom, the Cabinet is a formal body composed of government

officials chosen by the Prime Minister. Most members are the most senior government ministers,
mainly heads of government departments with the title "Secretary of State". Formal members of
the cabinet are drawn exclusively from either house of Parliament.

In traditional constitutional theory, in the British system of government, the Cabinet is the

key formal decision making body of the executive. This interpretation was originally put across in
the work of nineteenth century constitutionalists such as Walter Bagehot, and the extent to which it
is a decision maker today is clearly reduced, with some claiming its role has been usurped by
'Prime-Ministerial Government', or more recently and controversially, a 'Presidential' Prime
Minister.

The modern Cabinet system as we recognize it was set up by David Lloyd George when he

was Prime Minister 1916-22, with a Cabinet Office and Secretariat, committee structures, Minutes,
and a clearer relationship with departmental Cabinet Ministers. This grew out of the exigencies of
the First World War, where decisions were necessarily needed to be taken more swiftly and in
more co-ordinated way across Government - as Lloyd George himself said, "War is too important
to be left to the generals." Decisions on mass conscription, co-ordination world-wide with other
governments across international theatres, armament production tied into a general war strategy
that could be developed and overseen from an inner "War Cabinet" 10 Downing Street, are all
clear elements retained today. As the country went through successive crises after 1922 - the 1926
General Strike, the Great depression of 1929-32; the rise of Fascism after 1922; the Spanish Civil
War 1936 onwards; the invasion of Abyssinia 1936; the League of Nations Crisis which followed;

47

the re-armament and resurgence of Germany from 1933, plus the lead into another World War - all
demanded a highly organized and centralized Government based around the Cabinet.

This centralization inevitably enhanced the power of the Prime Minister, who moved from

being the primus inter pares of the Asquith Cabinets of 1906 onwards, with a glittering set of huge
individual talents leading powerful departments, to the dominating figures of Lloyd George, Baldwin
and Churchill.

History

In medieval times, the monarch was the traditional leader of a "cabinet". The head of the

government existed in order to put the decisions and policies of the monarch into practice. The
ministers of the monarch were servants who ministered the will of the monarch.

Traditional cabinets of medieval England consisted of:



Household:



Chamberlain



Treasurer



Keeper of the Privy Seal



Lord High Steward



Wardrobe



Law Courts



Admiralty



Chancery



Common Pleas



Exchequer



King's Bench



Military:

48



Marshal



Constable



Admiral

Composition

The Prime Minister uses royal prerogative powers of patronage to appoint and dismiss

members of the Cabinet and therefore requires the formal approval of the monarch for any
appointment to the Cabinet. Today, the monarch's approval is merely token, and has never been
denied in recent history.

Any change to the composition of the Cabinet involving more than one appointment is

customarily referred to as a reshuffle. The total number of ministers allowed to be paid as "Cabinet
ministers" (22) is governed by statute (1975 Ministerial and Other Salaries Act), and this has
caused successive Prime Ministers problems, and accounts for some of the unusual regular
attendees at Cabinet, who are not paid as "Cabinet ministers". The numbers fluctuate between 21
to 24.

The Cabinet has always been led by the Prime Minister, although the role of the Prime

Minister is traditionally described as primus inter pares — first among equals, though clearly, this is
a perception rather than a reality - after all, it is the Prime Minister alone who appoints/dismisses
Cabinet Ministers and sets the agenda for Cabinet individually and through the Cabinet Secretary
meetings. It was Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision alone to reduce Cabinet meetings to once-
weekly from Tuesdays and Thursdays, just as he chose to consolidate the following
Tuesday/Thursday Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons to once-weekly on Wednesdays,
although remaining exposed for the same total time. So, the extent to which the Prime Minister is
collegial depends on political conditions and individual personalities.

In formal constitutional terms, the Cabinet is a committee of the Privy Council. All Cabinet

members are created Privy Counselors on appointment and therefore use the style "The Right
Honorable". [As all members of the House of Lords are "The Right Honorable" as of right, Privy
Councilors in the Lords place the letters "PC" after their names to distinguish themselves.]

Recent custom has been that the composition of the Cabinet has been made up almost

entirely of members of the House of Commons. Two offices — that of Lord Chancellor and Leader
of the House of Lords — have always been filled by members of the Lords, but apart from these it
is now rare for a peer to sit in the Cabinet. The only current exception is the Secretary of State for
Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer of Thoroton. (This post was created in the June 2003 reshuffle
and incorporates many of the duties of the Lord Chancellor, a role still formally held by Lord
Falconer of Thoroton). The current Leader of the Lords, Lady Amos, was the last peer to sit in any

49

other Cabinet post, as Secretary of State for International Development from May to October 2003.
The last Secretary of State for a major department drawn from the Lords was Lord Young of
Graffham, serving between 1985 and 1989 as Secretary of State for Employment until 1987 and
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry until 1989. Interestingly, the number of junior ministers
who are peers has increased since 1997, though, clearly, being a peer is a block to Cabinet-
advancement.

A small number of other ministers below Secretary of State level may also be included in

Cabinet meetings as a matter of course. The Attorney General (currently Lord Goldsmith) and the
Minister of State for Europe (currently Geoff Hoon), together with the chair of the governing
parliamentary party, are customarily included and other members of the Government can be
invited at the Prime Minister's discretion. Currently, Ian McCartney, the former chair of the Labour
Party and now Minister of State for Trade at the Foreign Office and Department of Trade and
Industry, is the only other person in attendance at Cabinet on this basis.

In recent years, non-members of Parliament have been permitted by the Prime Minister to

attend Cabinet meetings on a regular basis, notably Alastair Campbell in his capacity as Director of
Communications and Strategy between 1997 and 2003, and Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's Chief of
Staff, with a distinctly separate role from the Cabinet Secretary/Head of the Civil Service.

Meetings of the Cabinet

The Cabinet meets on a regular basis, usually weekly on a Thursday morning, notionally to

discuss the most important issues of government policy, and to make decisions. The length of
meetings vary according to the style of the Prime Minister and political conditions, but today
meetings can be as little as 30 minutes in length, which suggests ratification of decisions taken in
committee or in bi-lateral discussions between the Prime Minister and individual departmental
Cabinet colleagues, with discussion in Cabinet itself somewhat curtailed.

The Cabinet has numerous sub-committees which focus particular policy areas, particularly

ones which cut across several ministerial responsibilities, and therefore need coordination. These
may be permanent committees or set up for a short duration to look at particular issues ("ad hoc
committees"). Junior Ministers are also often members of these committees, in addition to
Secretaries of State. The transaction of government business through meetings of the Cabinet and
its many committees is administered by a small secretariat within the Cabinet Office.

In practice, and increasingly in recent years, weekly meetings of the full Cabinet have

tended to be more concerned with the exchange of information and ratification of decisions, major
decisions being taken by Cabinet Committees or in informal groups, often bi-laterals between the
Prime Minister and an individual minister.

50

Most Prime Ministers have had a so-called "kitchen cabinet" consisting of their own trusted

advisers who may be Cabinet members but are often trusted personal advisers on their own staff.
In recent governments it has been reported that many, or even all major decisions have been said
to be made before cabinet meetings. This suggestion has been made by former ministers such as
Clare Short and Chris Smith, in the media, and was made clear in the Butler Review, where Blair's
style of "sofa government" was censured.

Relationship with Parliament

Two key constitutional conventions regarding the accountability of the cabinet to Parliament

exist, collective cabinet responsibility and individual ministerial responsibility. These are derived
from the fact the members of the cabinet are members of Parliament, and therefore accountable to
it, because Parliament is sovereign. Cabinet collective responsibility means that members of the
cabinet make decisions collectively, and are therefore responsible for the consequences of these
decisions collectively. Therefore, when a vote of no confidence is passed in Parliament, every
minister and government official drawn from Parliament automatically resigns their role in the
executive; the entire executive is dismissed. So, logically, cabinet ministers that disagree with
major decisions are expected to resign, as, to take a recent example, Robin Cook did over the
decision to attack Iraq in 2003.

Individual ministerial responsibility is the convention that in their capacity as head of

department, a minister is responsible for the actions, and therefore the failings too, of their
department. Since the civil service is permanent and anonymous, under circumstances of gross
incompetence in their department, a minister 'must' resign. Perhaps surprisingly, this is relatively
rare in practice, perhaps because, whilst many would consider incompetence more harmful than

51

personal scandal, it is of less interest to more populist elements of the media, and less susceptible
to unequivocal proof. The closest example in recent years is perhaps Estelle Morris who resigned
as Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2002 of her own volition (following severe
problems and inaccuracies in the marking of A-level exams). The circumstances under which this
convention is followed are of course not possible to strictly define, and depend on many other
factors. If a minister's reputation is seen to be tarnished by a personal scandal (for example when it
was revealed that David Mellor had an extra-marital affair) they very often resign/ This often follows
a short period of intense media and opposition pressure for them to do so. In general, despite
numerous scandals, in Britain cases of serious corruption (e.g. acceptance of bribes) are relatively
rare in comparison with many other democracies. One reason is because of the strength of the
whip system and political parties in comparison to individual politicians. This means MPs and
ministers have little capacity to be influenced by external groups offering money.

Questions can be tabled for Cabinet ministers in either houses of Parliament (a process

called interpellation in political science), which can either be for written or oral reply. Cabinet
ministers must answer them, either themselves or through a deputy. Written answers, which are
usually more specific and detailed than oral questions are usually written by a civil servant.
Answers to written and oral questions are published in Hansard. Parliament cannot dismiss
individual ministers (though members may of course call for their resignation) but the House of
Commons is able to determine the fate of the entire Government. If a vote of no confidence in the
Government passes, then confidence must be restored either by dissolution of Parliament and the
election of a new one, or by the resignation of the Government collectively.

In the United Kingdom's parliamentary system, the executive is not separate from the

legislature, since Cabinet members are drawn from Parliament. Moreover the executive tends to
dominate the legislature for several reasons:



the first-past-the-post voting system (which tends to give a large majority to the governing
party)



the power of the Government Whips (whose role is to ensure party members vote in
accordance with an agreed line)



the "payroll vote" (a term which refers to the fact that members of the governing party who
are on the government payroll (e.g. as junior ministers) would be dismissed if they voted
against the government).

The combined effect of the Prime Minister's ability to control Cabinet by circumventing

effective discussion in Cabinet and the executive's ability to dominate parliamentary proceedings
places the British Prime Minister in a position of great power that has been likened to an elective
dictatorship (a phrase coined by Lord Hailsham in 1976). The relative impotence of Parliament to
hold the Government of the day to account is often cited by the UK media as a justification for the
vigor with which they question and challenge the Government.

52

Shadow Cabinet

The official opposition party (the party with the second largest number of elected members

of Parliament) is headed by a similar group called the Shadow Cabinet. In recent years the third
largest party has also referred to its key figures as a Shadow Cabinet.

HOUSE OF LORDS

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The

Parliament also includes the Sovereign and the House of Commons (which is the lower house of
Parliament).

Members of the House of Lords are known as "Lords of Parliament". The House of Lords

does not have a fixed number of members: currently there are 753 members, consisting of 26
"Lords Spiritual" and 727 "Lords Temporal". The Lords Spiritual are the 2 archbishops and 24 most
senior bishops of the Church of England, while the Lords Temporal are 635 current Life Peers, as
well as 90 Hereditary Peers and 2 Great Officers of State.

Lords Spiritual are "Lords of Parliament" (and not peers) so long as they continue to occupy

their ecclesiastical positions, whereas Lords Temporal serve for life. By convention, the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York on retirement from those ecclesiastical positions are offered
Life Peerages.

53

Other ecclesiastics have sat in the House of Lords in recent times: Immanuel Jakobovits,

was appointed to the House of Lords by Margaret Thatcher while he was Chief Rabbi. Lord Eames
was appointed by Tony Blair, while Archbishop of Armagh, the senior Anglican bishop in Northern
Ireland on account of his work at reconciliation and in the Peace Process. There have been other
clergymen appointed, such as Reverend Donald Soper, Reverend Timothy Beaumont [Lib Dem],
and Scottish clerics. There have been no Roman Catholic clergymen appointed, though it was
rumored that Cardinal Basil Hume was offered a peerage, but refused, and accepted instead the
Order of Merit, personal appointment of the Queen, shortly before his death.

The House of Lords originated in the 14th century and has been in almost continuous

existence since. The name "House of Lords" was not used as a name for the Upper House until
1544. It was abolished in 1649 by the revolutionary government that came to power during the
English Civil War, but was restored in 1660. The House of Lords was once more powerful than the
elected House of Commons. Since the 19th century, however, the powers of the House of Lords
have been steadily declining; now, the Upper House is far weaker than its elected counterpart.
Under the Parliament Acts (passed in 1911 and 1949), all government legislation excluding
"money bills" (which include the annual Finance Bill implementing the Budget) passed by the
House of Commons can be delayed for twelve months, but cannot be rejected. This power is called
a suspensive veto in political science.

Further reforms were enacted under the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the

automatic hereditary right of peers to sit in the Upper House. Two hereditary peers, the Duke of
Norfolk [The hereditary Earl Marshal, who organizes openings of Parliament, coronations and state
funerals] and the Marquess of Cholmondley [hereditary Lord High Chamberlain, who has a role in
the openings of Parliament] retain seats because of their offices of state Great Officers of State,
and an additional 90 are elected to represent the other hereditary peers. Additional reforms are
contemplated by the current Labour Government, but have not been passed into law: they are
known to include removing hereditary peers and directly electing at least 50% of the House of
Lords.

In addition to performing legislative functions, the House of Lords also holds judicial

powers: it constitutes the highest court of appeal for most cases in the United Kingdom. The
judicial functions of the House of Lords are not performed by the whole Chamber, but rather by an
Appelate Committee of members with experience of high judicial office, who are known as "Law
Lords". The House of Lords is not the only court of last resort in the United Kingdom; in some
cases, that role is fulfilled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Constitutional
Reform Act 2005 will transfer the judicial functions of the Lords to a new Supreme Court of the
United Kingdom, but the provisions enacting the transfer have not yet been brought into force. It is
understood that the Law Lords are "resistant" and have yet to formally decide on a new location,
away from the Houses of Parliament: their present offices are "most agreeable", it seems, while

54

possible new offices nearby in a re-modeled listed neo-Gothic Middlesex Crown Court are being
considered.

The full, formal style of the House is The Right Honorable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal

of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The formal
style of individual members of the House of Lords is The Right Honorable the Lord X of Y. The
House of Lords, like the House of Commons, meets in the Palace of Westminster. Lords who are
Privy Counselors place "PC" after their title: all Privy Counselors are in any case entitled to the
epithet "The Right Honorable".

History

Parliament developed from the council that advised the King during medićval times. This

royal council came to be composed of ecclesiastics, noblemen, and representatives of the counties
(afterwards, representatives of the boroughs as well). The first Parliament is often considered to be
the "Model Parliament" (held in 1295), which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons,
and representatives of the shires and boroughs. The power of Parliament grew slowly, fluctuating
as the strength of the monarchy grew or declined. For example, during much of the reign of
Edward II (1307–1327), the nobility was supreme, the Crown weak, and the shire and borough
representatives entirely powerless. In 1322, the authority of Parliament was for the first time
recognized not simply by custom or royal charter, but by an authoritative statute, passed by
Parliament itself. Further developments occurred during the reign of Edward II's successor,
Edward III. Most importantly, it was during this King's reign that Parliament clearly separated into
two distinct chambers: the House of Commons (consisting of the shire and borough
representatives) and the House of Lords (consisting of the senior clergy and the nobility). The
authority of Parliament continued to grow, and, during the early fifteenth century, both Houses
exercised powers to an extent not seen before. The Lords were far more powerful than the
Commons because of the great influence of the aristocrats and prelates of the realm.

The power of the nobility suffered a decline during the civil wars of the late fifteenth century,

known as the Wars of the Roses. Much of the nobility was decimated on the battlefield or executed
for participation in the war, and many aristocratic estates were lost to the Crown. Moreover,
feudalism was dying, and the feudal armies controlled by the barons became obsolete. Hence, the
Crown easily re-established its absolute supremacy in the realm. The domination of the Sovereign
continued to grow during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs in the 16th century. The Crown was at
the height of its power during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547).

The House of Lords remained more powerful than the House of Commons, but the Lower

House did continue to grow in influence, reaching a zenith in relation to the House of Lords during
the middle 17th century. Conflicts between the King and the Parliament (for the most part, the

55

House of Commons) ultimately led to the English Civil War during the 1640s. In 1649, after the
defeat and execution of King Charles I, a republic (the Commonwealth of England) was declared,
but the nation was effectively under the overall control of Oliver Cromwell. The House of Lords was
reduced to a largely powerless body, with Cromwell and his supporters in the Commons
dominating the Government. On 19 March 1649, the House of Lords was abolished by an Act of
Parliament, which declared that "The Commons of England [find] by too long experience that the
House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the people of England." The House of Lords did not
assemble again until the Convention Parliament met in 1660 and the monarchy was restored. It
returned to its former position as the more powerful chamber of Parliament—a position it would
occupy until the 19th century.

The 19th century was marked by several changes to the House of Lords. The House, once

a body of only about 50 members, had been greatly enlarged by the liberality of George III and his
successors in creating peerages. The individual influence of a Lord of Parliament was thus
diminished. Moreover, the power of the House as a whole experienced a decrease, whilst that of
the House of Commons grew. Particularly notable in the development of the Lower House's
superiority was the Reform Bill of 1832. The electoral system of the House of Commons was not,
at the time, democratic: property qualifications greatly restricted the size of the electorate, and the
boundaries of many constituencies had not been changed for centuries. Entire cities such as
Manchester were not represented by a single individual in the House of Commons, but the 11
voters of Old Sarum retained their ancient right to elect two Members of Parliament. A small
borough was susceptible to bribery, and was often under the control of a patron, whose nominee
was guaranteed to win an election. Some aristocrats were patrons of numerous "pocket boroughs",
and therefore controlled a considerable part of the membership of the House of Commons.

When, in 1831, the House of Commons passed a Reform Bill to correct some of these

anomalies, the House of Lords rejected the proposal. The popular cause of reform, however, was
not abandoned by the ministry, despite a second rejection of the bill in the Lords in 1832. The
Prime Minister, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, then advised the King to overwhelm the opposition to
the bill in the House of Lords by creating about 80 new pro-Reform peers. William IV originally
baulked at the proposal, which effectively threatened the opposition of the House of Lords, but at
length relented. Before the new peers were created, however, the Lords who opposed the bill
admitted defeat, and abstained from the vote, allowing the passage of the bill. The crisis damaged
the political influence of the House of Lords, but did not altogether end it. Over the course of the
century, however, the power of the Upper House experienced further erosion, and the Commons
gradually became the stronger House of Parliament.

The status of the House of Lords returned to the forefront of debate after the election of a

Liberal Government in 1906. In 1908, the Government under Asquith introduced a number of social

56

welfare programmes, which, together with an expensive arms race with Germany, had forced the
Government to seek more funding in the form of tax increases. In 1909, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, David Lloyd George, introduced the "People's Budget", which proposed a new tax
targeting wealthy landowners. The unpopular measure, however, failed in the heavily Conservative
House of Lords. Having made the powers of the House of Lords a primary campaign issue, the
Liberals were re-elected in January 1910. Asquith then proposed that the powers of the House of
Lords be severely curtailed. Proceedings on the bill were briefly interrupted by the death of King
Edward VII, but were soon recommenced under the new monarch, George V. After a General
Election in December 1910, the Asquith Government secured the passage of a bill to curtail the
powers of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister proposed, and the King agreed, that the House
of Lords could be flooded by the creation of 500 new Liberal peers if it failed to pass the bill. The
Parliament Act 1911 soon destroyed the power of the House of Lords to reject most bills. Money
Bills (bills that dealt solely with matters related to revenue and public expenditures, such as the
Budget) could be delayed by the House of Lords for no more than one month, and most other bills
for no more than three parliamentary sessions or two calendar years. The Parliament Act 1911
was not meant to be a permanent solution; rather, more comprehensive reforms were planned.
Neither party, however, pursued the matter with much enthusiasm, nor did the House of Lords
remain primarily hereditary. In 1949, the Parliament Act was slightly modified, so that the delaying
power of the House of Lords with respect to most bills was reduced from three sessions or two
years to two sessions or one year.

In 1958, the predominantly hereditary nature of the House of Lords was changed by the Life

Peerages Act 1958, which authorized the creation of life baronies, with no numerical limits. The
number of Life Peers then gradually increased, though not at a constant rate. In 1968, the Labour
Government of Harold Wilson attempted to reform the House of Lords by introducing a system
under which hereditary peers would be allowed to remain in the House and take part in debate, but
would be unable to vote. This plan, however, was defeated in the House of Commons by a
coalition of traditionalist Conservatives (such as Enoch Powell) and Labour members who
advocated the outright abolition of the Upper House (such as Michael Foot). When Michael Foot
attained the leadership of the Labour Party, abolition of the House of Lords became a part of the
party's agenda; under Neil Kinnock, however, a reformed Upper House was proposed instead. In
the meantime, the creation of hereditary peerages (except for members of the Royal Family) has
been arrested, with the exception of three creations during the administration of the Conservative
Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

The Labour Party's return to power in 1997 under Tony Blair finally heralded the reform of

the House of Lords. The Blair Government introduced legislation to remove all hereditary peers
from the Upper House as the first step in Lords reform. As a part of a compromise, however, it
agreed to permit 92 hereditary peers to remain until the reforms are complete. The hereditary
peers were removed under the House of Lords Act 1999 (see below for its provisions), making the
House of Lords predominantly an appointed House.

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Since then however, reform has stalled (see Lords Reform. The Wakeham Commission

proposed introducing a 20% elected element to the Lords, but this plan was widely criticised. A
Joint Committee was established in 2001 to resolve the issue, but it reached no conclusion and
instead gave Parliament seven options to choose from (fully appointed, 20% elected, 40% elected,
50% elected, 60% elected, 80%, and fully elected). In a confusing series of votes in February
2003, all of these options were defeated although the 80% elected option fell by just three votes.
MPs favouring outright abolition voted against all the options. Another proposal was put forward by
a group of MPs, proposing a 70% elected house, with most of the remainder appointed by a
Commission to ensure a mix of skills, knowledge and experience. This proposal also did not reach
the statute book. New peers, therefore, are only created by appointment to the house.

The Labour Party now intends to introduce reform early in the next Parliament, although

they are yet to state exactly what system they will be proposing. It is understood, however, that
they may be inclined to support Billy Bragg's Secondary Mandate system. The Conservative Party
favour an eighty per cent elected Second Chamber, while the Liberal Democrats are calling for a
fully elected Senate. Elect the Lords is a cross-party campaign initiative that was set up to make
the case for a predominantly elected Second Chamber in the run up to the 2005 general election.
In the post-election Queen's Speech, the government announced that it "will bring forward
proposals to continue the reform of the House of Lords" in the 2005/2006 legislative session.

“The Times” reported on July 19, 2005 that Labour Party would propose that the House of

Lords be 80% elected and renamed the "Second Chamber". The Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of
Thoroton, has announced plans to develop a cross-party consensus on House of Lords reform. A
cross-party group of senior MPs (Ken Clarke, Robin Cook (deceased August 2005), Paul Tyler,
Tony Wright and George Young) published a report in 2005 proposing that 70% of members of the
House of Lords should be elected by the single transferable vote system.

Lords Spiritual

Members of the House of Lords who sit by virtue of their ecclesiastical offices are known as

Lords Spiritual. Formerly, the Lords Spiritual comprised a majority in the House of Lords, including
the Church of England's archbishops, diocesan bishops, abbots, and priors. After 1539, however,
only the archbishops and bishops continued to attend, for the Dissolution of the Monasteries
suppressed the positions of abbot and prior. In 1642, during the English Civil War, the Lords
Spiritual were excluded altogether, but they returned under the Clergy Act 1661. The number of
Lords Spiritual was further restricted by the Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847, and by later acts.
Now, there can be no more than 26 Lords Spiritual, always including the five most important
prelates of the Church: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of
London, the Bishop of Durham, and the Bishop of Winchester. Membership of the House of Lords
also extends to the 21 longest-serving other diocesan bishops of the Church of England.

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The Church of Scotland is not represented by any Lords Spiritual; being a Presbyterian

institution, it has no archbishops or bishops. The Church of Ireland did obtain representation in the
House of Lords after the union of Ireland and Great Britain in 1801. Of the Church of Ireland's
ecclesiastics, four (one archbishop and three bishops) were to sit at any one time, with the
members rotating at the end of every parliamentary session (which normally lasted approximately
one year). The Church of Ireland, however, was disestablished in 1871, and ceased to be
represented by Lords Spiritual. The same is true for the Church in Wales which was disestablished
in 1920. The current Lords Spiritual, therefore, represent only the Church of England.

In practice, however, although the Free Churches have never been represented as of right

in the Lords, some Methodist and other ministers sit as Lords Temporal. Other clerics such as the
Chief Rabbi are also often elevated as Lords Temporal; and indeed the heads of various
professions and learned societies, and notably the military, academic and legal professions, are
customarily considered.

Lords Temporal

Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Lords Temporal have been the most

numerous group in the House of Lords. Unlike the Lords Spiritual, they may be publicly partisan.
Publicly non-partisan Lords are called cross-benchers. Originally, the Lords Temporal included
several hereditary peers (that is, those whose peerages may be inherited), who ranked variously
as dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. Such hereditary dignities can be created by
the Crown, in modern times on the advice of the Prime Minister of the day. Reforms enacted in
1999 (see above) caused several hundred hereditary peers to lose their seats in the House of
Lords. The House of Lords Act 1999 provides that only 92 individuals may continue to sit in the
Upper House by virtue of hereditary peerages. Two hereditary peers remain in the House of Lords
because they hold hereditary offices connected with Parliament: the Earl Marshal and the Lord
Great Chamberlain. Of the remaining 90 hereditary peers in the House of Lords, 15 are elected by
the whole House. Seventy-five hereditary peers are chosen by fellow hereditaries in the House of
Lords, grouped by party. The number of peers to be chosen by a party reflects the proportion of
hereditary peers that belongs to that party. When an elected hereditary peer dies, a by-election is
held, with a variant of the Alternative Vote system being used. If the recently deceased hereditary
peer was elected by the whole House, then so is his or her replacement; a hereditary peer elected
by a specific party is replaced by a vote of elected hereditary peers belonging to that party
(whether elected as part of that party group or by the whole house).

The Lords Temporal also include the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, a group of individuals

appointed to the House of Lords so that they may exercise its judicial functions. Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary, more commonly known as Law Lords, were first appointed under the Appellate
Jurisdiction Act 1876. They are selected by the Prime Minister, but are formally appointed by the

59

Sovereign. A Lord of Appeal in Ordinary must retire at the age of 70, or, if his or her term is
extended by the government, at the age of 75; after reaching such an age, the Law Lord cannot
hear any further legal cases. The number of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (excluding those who are
no longer able to hear cases because of age restrictions) is limited to twelve, but may be changed
by statutory instrument. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary traditionally do not participate in political
debates, so as to maintain judicial independence. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary hold seats the
House of Lords for life, remaining members even after reaching the retirement age of 70 or 75.
Former Lord Chancellors and holders of other high judicial office may also sit as Law Lords under
the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, although in practice this right is infrequently exercised. After the
coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will
become judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and will be barred from sitting or
voting until they retire as judges.

The largest group of Lords Temporal, and indeed of the whole House, are life peers. Life

peers with seats in the House of Lords rank only as barons or baronesses, and are created under
the Life Peerages Act 1958. Like all other peers, life peers are created by the Sovereign, who acts
on the advice of the Prime Minister. By convention, however, the Prime Minister allows leaders of
other parties to select some life peers so as to maintain a political balance in the House of Lords.
Moreover, some non-party life peers (the number being determined by the Prime Minister) are
nominated by an independent House of Lords Appointments Commission. If an hereditary peer
also holds a life peerage, he or she remains a member of the House of Lords without a need for an
election. In 2000, the government announced it would set up an Independent Appointments
Commission, under Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, to select fifteen so-called "People's Peers" for
life peerages. However, when the choices were announced in April 2001, from a list of 3,000
applicants, the choices were treated with criticism in the media, as all were distinguished in their
field, and none were "ordinary people" as some had originally hoped.

In many historical instances, some peers were not permitted to sit in the Upper House.

When Scotland united with England to form Great Britain in 1707, it was provided that the Scottish
hereditary peers would only be able to elect 16 representative peers to sit in the House of Lords;
the term of a representative was to extend until the next general election. A similar provision was
enacted in respect of Ireland when that kingdom merged with Great Britain in 1801; the Irish peers
were allowed to elect 28 representatives, who were to retain office for life. Elections for Irish
representatives ended in 1922, when most of Ireland became an independent state; elections for
Scottish representatives ended with the passage of the Peerage Act 1963, under which all Scottish
peers obtained seats in the Upper House.

Qualifications

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Several different qualifications apply for membership of the House of Lords. No person may

sit in the House of Lords if under the age of 21. Furthermore, only Commonwealth citizens and
citizens of the Republic of Ireland may sit in the House of Lords. The nationality restrictions were
previously more stringent: under the Act of Settlement 1701, and prior to the British Nationality Act
1948, only natural-born subjects were qualified.

Additionally, some bankruptcy-related restrictions apply to members of the Upper House. A

person may not sit in the House of Lords if he or she is the subject of a Bankruptcy Restrictions
Order (applicable in England and Wales only), or if he or she is adjudged bankrupt (in Northern
Ireland), or if his or her estate is sequestered (in Scotland). A final restriction bars an individual
convicted of high treason from sitting in the House of Lords until completing his or her full term of
imprisonment. An exception applies, however, if the individual convicted of high treason receives a
full pardon. Note that an individual serving a prison sentence for an offence other than high treason
is not automatically disqualified.

Finally, some qualifications apply only in the case of the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary. No

person may be created a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary unless he or she has either held "high judicial
office" for two years, or has been a practicing barrister for fifteen years. The term "high judicial
office" encompasses membership of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, of the Inner
House of the Court of Session (Scotland), or of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

Women were excluded from the House of Lords until the Life Peerages Act, passed in 1958

to address the declining number of active members, facilitated the creation of peerages for life.
Women were immediately eligible and four were among the first life peers appointed. However,
hereditary peeresses, whose existence had long been a constitutional anomaly, continued to be
excluded until the passage of the Peerage Act 1963. Since the passage of the House of Lords Act
1999, hereditary peeresses remain eligible for election to the Upper House; there are three among
the 92 hereditaries who continue to sit. All women in the House of Lords are amongst the Lords
Temporal; the Church of England does not presently permit the consecration of female bishops,
though this issue is currently under consideration, with many observers expecting female bishops
in the near future.

Officers

Traditionally the House of Lords did not elect its own speaker, unlike the House of

Commons; rather, the ex officio presiding officer was the Lord Chancellor. With the passage of the
Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the post of Lord Speaker was created, a position to which a peer
is elected by the House and subsequently appointed by The Crown. The first Lord Speaker to be
elected, on May the fourth 2006, is Baroness Hayman, a former Labour peer. As the Speaker is

61

expected to be an impartial presiding officer, Baroness Hayman has resigned from the Labour
whip.

This reform of the post of Lord Chancellor was made due to the constitutional anomalies

inherent in the role. The Lord Chancellor was not only the Speaker of the House of Lords, but also
a member of the Cabinet; his or her department, formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department, is
now called the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, the Lord Chancellor is the head of
the judiciary of England and Wales, serving as the president of the Supreme Court of England and
Wales. Thus, the Lord Chancellor was part of all three branches of government: the legislative, the
executive, and the judicial. The overlap of the legislative and executive roles is a characteristic of
the Westminster system, as the entire cabinet consists of members of the House of Commons or
the House of Lords, however in June 2003, the Blair Government announced its intention to
abolish the post of Lord Chancellor because of the office's mixed executive and judicial
responsibilities. The abolition of the office was rejected by the House of Lords, and the
Constitutional Reform Act 2005 was thus amended to preserve the office of Lord Chancellor. The
Act no longer guarantees that the office holder of Lord Chancellor is the presiding officer of the
House of Lords, and therefore allows for the House of Lords to elect a speaker of their own.

The Lord Speaker may be replaced as presiding officer by one of his or her deputies. The

Chairman of Committees, the Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees, and several Deputy
Chairmen of Committees are all deputies to the Lord Speaker, and are all appointed by the House
of Lords itself. By custom, the Crown appoints each Chairman, Principal Deputy Chairman, or
Deputy Chairman to the additional office of Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords. There was
previously no legal requirement that the Lord Chancellor or a Deputy Speaker be a member of the
House of Lords, though the same has long been customary; thus the Woolsack upon which the
Lord Chancellor sat was notionally not in the House of Lords, although situated in the middle of it.

Whilst presiding over the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor traditionally wore ceremonial

black and gold robes. This is no longer a requirement for the Speaker except for State occasions
outside of the chamber. The Speaker or or Deputy Speaker sits on the Woolsack, a large red seat
stuffed with wool, at the front of the Lords Chamber. When the House of Lords resolves itself into
committee (see below), the Chairman or a Deputy Chairman presides, not from the Woolsack, but
from a chair at the Table of the House. The presiding officer has little power compared to the
Speaker of the House of Commons. He or she only acts as the mouthpiece of the House,
performing duties such as announcing the results of votes. The Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker
cannot determine which members may speak, or discipline members for violating the rules of the
House; these measures may be taken only by the House itself. Unlike the politically neutral
Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chancellor and Deputy Speakers originally remained
members of their respective parties, and may participate in debate, however this is no longer true
of the new role of Lord Speaker.

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Another officer of the body is the Leader of the House of Lords, a peer selected by the

Prime Minister. The Leader of the House is responsible for steering Government bills through the
House of Lords, and is a member of the Cabinet. The Leader also advises the House on proper
procedure when necessary, but such advice is merely informal, rather than official and binding. A
Deputy Leader is also appointed by the Prime Minister, and takes the place of an absent or
unavailable Leader.

The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk and officer of the House of Lords (but is not a

member of the House itself). The Clerk, who is appointed by the Crown, advises the presiding
officer on the rules of the House, signs orders and official communications, endorses bills, and is
the keeper of the official records of both Houses of Parliament. Moreover, the Clerk of the
Parliaments is responsible for arranging by-elections of hereditary peers when necessary. The
deputies of the Clerk of the Parliaments (the Clerk Assistant and the Reading Clerk) are appointed
by the Lord Speaker, subject to the House's approval.

The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is also an officer of the House; he takes his title

from the symbol of his office, a black rod. Black Rod (as the Gentleman Usher is normally known)
is responsible for ceremonial arrangements, is in charge of the House's doorkeepers, and may
(upon the order of the House) take action to end disorder or disturbance in the Chamber. Black
Rod also holds the office of Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Lords, and in this capacity attends
upon the Lord Speaker. The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod's duties may be delegated to the
Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod or to the Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms.

Procedure

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Benches in the House of Lords Chamber are colored red. In contrast, the House of
Commons is decorated in green.

The House of Lords and the House of Commons assemble in the Palace of Westminster.

The Lords Chamber is lavishly decorated, in contrast with the more modestly furnished Commons
Chamber. Benches in the Lords Chamber are colored red; thus, the House of Lords is sometimes
referred to as the "Red Chamber". The Woolsack is at the front of the Chamber; supporters of the
Government sit on benches on the right of the Woolsack, whilst members of the Opposition sit on
the left. Neutral members, known as Cross-benchers, sit on the benches immediately opposite the
Woolsack.

The Lords Chamber is the site of many formal ceremonies, the most famous of which is the

State Opening of Parliament, held at the beginning of each new parliamentary session. During the
State Opening, the Sovereign, seated on the Throne in the Lords Chamber and in the presence of
both Houses of Parliament, delivers a speech outlining the Government's agenda for the upcoming
parliamentary session.

In the House of Lords, members need not seek the recognition of the presiding officer

before speaking, as is done in the House of Commons. If two or more Lords simultaneously rise to
speak, the House decides which one is to be heard by acclamation, or, if necessary, by voting on a
motion. Often, however, the Leader of the House will suggest an order, which is thereafter
generally followed. Speeches in the House of Lords are addressed to the House as a whole ("My
Lords") rather than to the presiding officer alone (as is the custom in the Lower House). Members
may not refer to each other in the second person (as "you"), but rather use third person forms such
as "the noble Duke", "the noble Earl", "the noble Lord", "my noble friend", etc.

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Each member may make no more than one speech on a motion, except that the mover of

the motion may make one speech at the beginning of the debate and another at the end.
Speeches are not subject to any time limits in the House; however, the House may put an end to a
speech by approving a motion "that the noble Lord be no longer heard". It is also possible for the
House to end the debate entirely, by approving a motion "that the Question be now put". This
procedure is known as Closure, and is extremely rare.

Once all speeches on a motion have concluded, or Closure invoked, the motion may be put

to a vote. The House first votes by voice vote; the Lord Speaker or Deputy Speaker puts the
question, and the Lords respond either "Content" (in favor of the motion) or "Not-Content" (against
the motion). The presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote, but if his
assessment is challenged by any Lord, a recorded vote known as a division follows. Members of
the House enter one of two lobbies (the "Content" lobby or the "Not-Content" lobby) on either side
of the Chamber, where their names are recorded by clerks. At each lobby are two Tellers
(themselves members of the House) who count the votes of the Lords. The Lord Speaker may not
take part in the vote. Once the division concludes, the Tellers provide the results thereof to the
presiding officer, who then announces them to the House. If there is an equality of votes, the
motion is decided according to the following principles: legislation may proceed in its present form,
unless there is a majority in favour of amending or rejecting it; any other motions are rejected,
unless there is a majority in favour of approving it. The quorum of the House of Lords is just three
members for a general or procedural vote, and 30 members for a vote on legislation. If fewer than
three or 30 members (as appropriate) are present, the division is invalid.

Committees

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The Parliament of the United Kingdom uses committees for a variety of purposes; one

common use is for the review of bills. Committees of both Houses consider bills in detail, and may
make amendments. In the House of Lords, the committee most commonly used for the
consideration of bills is the Committee of the Whole House, which, as its name suggests, includes
all members of the House. The Committee meets in the Lords Chamber, and is presided over not
by the Lord Speaker, but by the Chairman of Committees or a Deputy Chairman. Different
procedural rules apply in the Committee of the Whole House than in normal sessions of the Lords;
in particular, members are allowed to make more than one speech each on a motion. Similar to the
Committee of the Whole House are the Grand Committees, bodies in which any member of the
House may participate. A Grand Committee does not meet in the Lords Chamber, but in a
separate committee room. No divisions are held in Grand Committees, and any amendments to
the bill require the unanimous consent of the body. Hence, the Grand Committee procedure is
used only for uncontroversial bills.

Bills may also be committed to Public Bill Committees, which consist of between twelve and

sixteen members each. A Public Bill Committee is specifically constituted for a particular bill. A bill
may also be referred to a Special Public Bill Committee, which, unlike the Public Bill Committee,
has the power to hold hearings and collect evidence. These committees are used much less
frequently than the Committee of the Whole House and Grand Committees.

The House of Lords also has several Select Committees. The members of these

committees are appointed by the House at the beginning of each session, and continue to serve
until the next parliamentary session begins. The House of Lords may appoint a chairman for a
committee; if it does not do so, the Chairman of Committees or a Deputy Chairman of Committees
may preside instead. Most Select Committees are permanent, but the House may also establish ad
hoc committees, which cease to exist upon the completion of a particular task (for instance,
investigating the reform of the House of Lords). The primary function of Select Committees is to
scrutinise and investigate Government activities; to fulfil these aims, they are permitted to hold
hearings and collect evidence. Bills may be referred to Select Committees, but are more often sent
to the Committee of the Whole House and Grand Committees.

The committee system of the House of Lords also includes several Domestic Committees,

which supervise or consider the House's procedures and administration. One of the Domestic
Committees is the Committee of Selection, which is responsible for assigning members to many of
the House's other committees.

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Legislative functions

Most legislation may be introduced in either House, but, most commonly, is introduced in

the House of Commons.

The power of the Lords to reject a bill passed by the House of Commons is severely

restricted by the Parliament Acts. Under those Acts, certain types of bills may be presented for the
Royal Assent without the consent of the House of Lords. The House of Lords cannot delay a
money bill (a bill that, in the view of the Speaker of the House of Commons, solely concerns
national taxation or public funds) for more than one month. Other public bills cannot be delayed by
the House of Lords for more than two parliamentary sessions, or one calendar year. These
provisions, however, only apply to public bills that originate in the House of Commons, and cannot
have the effect of extending a parliamentary term beyond five years. A further restriction is a
constitutional convention known as the Salisbury Convention, which means that the House of
Lords does not oppose legislation promised in the Government's election manifesto.

By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the House of Lords is further

restrained insofar as financial bills are concerned. The House of Lords may neither originate a bill
concerning taxation or Supply, nor amend a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-related
provision. (The House of Commons, however, often waives its privileges and allows the Upper
House to make amendments with financial implications.) Moreover, the Upper House may not
amend any Supply Bill. The House of Lords formerly maintained the absolute power to reject a bill
relating to revenue or Supply, but this power was curtailed by the Parliament Acts, as
aforementioned.

Hence, as the power of the House of Lords has been severely curtailed by statute and by

practice, the House of Commons is clearly the more powerful chamber of Parliament.

In March 2006, it was reported that, among other reforms, the Government are considering

removing the ability of the Lords to delay legislation that arises as a result of manifesto
commitments, and reducing their ability to delay other legislation to a period of 60 days.

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Judicial functions

T

The judicial functions of the House of Lords originate from the ancient role of the Curia

Regis as a body that addressed the petitions of the King's subjects.

The judicial functions of the House of Lords are exercised not by the whole House, but by a

committee of "Law Lords". The bulk of the House's judicial business is conducted by the twelve
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, who are specifically appointed for this purpose under the Appellate
Jurisdiction Act 1876. The judicial functions may also be exercised by Lords of Appeal (other
members of the House who happen to have held high judicial office). No Lord of Appeal in
Ordinary or Lord of Appeal may sit judicially beyond the age of seventy-five. The judicial business
of the Lords is supervised by the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and his or her deputy, the
Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.

The jurisdiction of the House of Lords extends, in civil and in criminal cases, to appeals

from the courts of England and Wales, and of Northern Ireland. From Scotland, appeals are
possible only in civil cases; Scotland's High Court of Justiciary is the highest court in criminal
matters. The House of Lords is not the United Kingdom's only court of last resort; in some cases,
the Privy Council performs such a function. The jurisdiction of the Privy Council in the United
Kingdom, however, is narrower than that of the House of Lords; it encompasses appeals from
ecclesiastical courts, issues related to devolution, disputes under the House of Commons
Disqualification Act 1975, and a few other minor matters.

Not all Law Lords sit to hear cases; rather, since World War II cases have been heard by

panels known as Appellate Committees, each of which normally consists of five members
(selected by the Senior Lord). An Appellate Committee hearing an important case may consist of
even more members. Though Appellate Committees meet in separate committee rooms,
judgement is given in the Lords Chamber itself. No further appeal lies from the House of Lords,
although the House of Lords may refer a "preliminary question" to the European Court of Justice in
cases involving an element of European Union law, and a case can be brought at the European
Court of Human Rights if the House of Lords does not provide a satisfactory remedy in cases
where the European Convention on Human Rights is relevant.

A distinct judicial function—one in which the whole House, rather than just the Law Lords,

may participate—is that of trying impeachments. Impeachments are brought by the House of
Commons, and are tried in the House of Lords; a conviction requires only a majority of the Lords
voting. Impeachments, however, are essentially obsolete; the last impeachment was that of Henry
Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806.

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Similarly, the House of Lords was once the court that tried peers charged with high treason

or felony. The House would be presided over not by the Lord Speaker, but by the Lord High
Steward, an official especially appointed for the occasion of the trial. If Parliament was not in
session, then peers could be tried in a separate court, known as the Lord High Steward's Court.
Only peers, their wives, and their unremarried widows were entitled to trials in the House of Lords
or the Lord High Steward's Court; the Lords Spiritual were tried in Ecclesiastical Courts. In 1948,
the right of peers and peeresses to be tried in such special courts was abolished; now, they may
be tried in the same courts as others.

The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will lead to the creation of a separate Supreme Court of

the United Kingdom, to which the judicial function of the House of Lords, and some of the judicial
functions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, would be transferred. In addition, the
office of Lord Chancellor has been reformed by the act, to remove his ability to act as both a
government minister and a judge. This is motivated in part by concerns that the historical
admixture of legislative, judicial, and executive power, may not be in conformance with the
requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (a judicial officer having legislative or
executive power not being likely to be considered sufficiently impartial to provide a fair trial), and in
any case are considered undesirable according to modern constitutional theory concerning the
separation of powers. The new Supreme Court will be located in Middlesex Guildhall.

Relationship with the Government

Unlike the House of Commons, the House of Lords does not control the term of the Prime

Minister or of the Government. Only the Lower House may force the Prime Minister to resign or call
elections by passing a motion of no-confidence or by withdrawing supply. Thus, the House of
Lords' oversight of the government is limited.

Most Cabinet ministers are from the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords. In

particular, all Prime Ministers since 1902 have been members of the Lower House. No major
cabinet position (except Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords) has been filled by a
peer since 1982. However, the House of Lords does remain a source for junior ministers.

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HOUSE OF COMMONS

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Parliament also includes the Sovereign and the upper house, the House of Lords; the House of
Commons is the dominant branch. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body,
consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members of Parliament" or MPs. Members are
elected by the first-past-the-post system of election, holding office until Parliament is dissolved (a
maximum of five years). Each member is elected by, and represents, an electoral district known as
a constituency. The House of Commons is the source of the vast majority of government ministers
and every Prime Minister since 1902, with the very brief exception of Sir Alec Douglas-Home in
1963, has been drawn from it (Home did actually rule from the House of Commons, however,
taking a seat in the House shortly after being chosen as Prime Minister).

The House of Commons evolved at some point during the 14th century and has been in

continuous existence since. The House of Commons (the "lower house") was once far less
powerful than the House of Lords (the "upper house"), but is now by far the dominant branch of
Parliament. The House of Commons' legislative powers exceed those of the House of Lords; under
the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords' power to reject most bills was reduced to a mere delaying
power. Moreover, the Government of the United Kingdom is answerable to the House of
Commons; the Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of the
lower house.

The full, formal style and title of the House of Commons is The Honorable the Commons of

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The term
"Commons" derives from the Norman French word communes, meaning "localities." It is often
misunderstood that "Commons" comes from the word "commoners", referring to those sitting in the
House, similar to the way in which the name "House of Lords" indicates that those sitting in the
"Other Place" are elevated to the Peerage. This explanation, however, is a historical. Both Houses,
the Commons and Lords, meet in the Palace of Westminster. Both Houses have in the past met
elsewhere, and retain the right to do so, provided the Mace is present.

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History

Parliament developed from the council that advised the monarch during mediaeval times.

This royal council, meeting for short-term periods, included ecclesiastics, noblemen, as well as
representatives of the counties (known as "knights of the shire"). The chief duty of the council was
to approve taxes proposed by the Crown. In many cases, however, the council demanded the
redress of the people's grievances before proceeding to vote on taxation. Thus, it developed
legislative powers.

In the "Model Parliament" of 1295, representatives of the boroughs (including towns and

cities) were also admitted. Thus, it became settled practice that each county send two knights of
the shire, and that each borough send two burgesses. At first, the burgesses were almost entirely
powerless; whilst county representation was fixed, the monarch could enfranchise or disfranchise
boroughs at pleasure. Any show of independence by burgesses would have led to the exclusion of
their towns from Parliament. The knights of the shire were in a better position, though less powerful
than their aristocratic counterparts in the still unicameral Parliament. The division of Parliament into
two houses occurred during the reign of Edward III: the knights and burgesses formed the House
of Commons, whilst the clergy and nobility became the House of Lords.

Though they remained subordinate to both the Crown and the Lords, the Commons did act

with increasing boldness. During the Good Parliament (1376), the Speaker of the House of
Commons, Sir Peter de la Mare, complained of heavy taxes, demanded an accounting of the royal
expenditures, and criticized the King's management of the military. The Commons even proceeded
to impeach some of the King's ministers. The bold Speaker was imprisoned, but was soon
released after the death of King Edward III. During the reign of the next monarch, Richard II, the
Commons once again began to impeach errant ministers of the Crown. They insisted that they
could not only control taxation, but also public expenditures. Despite such gains in authority,
however, the Commons still remained much less powerful than the House of Lords and the Crown.

The influence of the Crown was further increased by the civil wars of the late fifteenth

century, which destroyed the power of the great nobles. Both houses of Parliament held little power
during the ensuing years, and the absolute supremacy of the Sovereign was restored. The
domination of the monarch grew even further under the Tudor dynasty in the sixteenth century.
This trend, however, was somewhat reversed when the House of Stuart came to the English

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Throne in 1603. The first two Stuart monarchs, James I and Charles I, provoked conflicts with the
Commons over issues such as taxation, religion, and royal powers.

The bitter differences between Charles I and Parliament were great, and were settled only

by the English Civil War. The King was beheaded, and the monarchy and Upper House abolished,
in 1649. Although the Commons were in theory supreme, the nation was truly under the control of
a military dictator, Oliver Cromwell, who eventually abolished Parliament in 1653. However, the
monarchy and the House of Lords were both restored along with the Commons in 1660, soon after
Cromwell's death. The influence of the Crown had been lessened, and was further diminished
when James II was deposed in the course of the Glorious Revolution (1688).

The eighteenth century was notable in that it was marked by the development of the office

of Prime Minister. The modern notion that the Government may remain in power only as long as it
retains the support of Parliament soon became established, leading to history's first-ever motion of
no confidence, as a result of the failure of Lord North's government to end the American
Revolution. The modern notion that only the support of the House of Commons is necessary,
however, was of much later development. Similarly, the custom that the Prime Minister is always a
Member of the Lower House, rather than the Upper one, did not evolve immediately.

The House of Commons experienced an important period of reform during the nineteenth

century. The Crown had made use of its prerogative of enfranchising and disenfranchising
boroughs very irregularly, and several anomalies had developed in borough representation. Many
towns that were once important but had become inconsiderable by the nineteenth century retained
their ancient right of electing two Members each. The most notorious of these "rotten boroughs"
was Old Sarum, which had only eleven voters; at the same time, large cities such as Manchester
received no separate representation, although their eligible residents were able to vote in the
corresponding county seat—in the case of Manchester, Lancashire. Also notable were the pocket
boroughs, small constituencies controlled by wealthy landowners and aristocrats, whose
"nominees" were invariably elected by the voters.

The Commons attempted to address these anomalies by passing a Reform Bill in 1831. At

first, the House of Lords proved unwilling to pass the bill, but were forced to relent when the Prime
Minister, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, advised King William IV to flood the House of Lords with
several pro-Reform peers. Before the King could take such an action, the Lords passed the bill in
1832. The Reform Act 1832, also known as the "Great Reform Act," abolished the rotten boroughs,
established uniform voting requirements for the boroughs, and granted representation to populous
cities, but also retained many pocket boroughs. In the ensuing years, the Commons grew more
assertive, the influence of the House of Lords having been damaged by the Reform Bill Crisis, and
the power of the patrons of pocket boroughs having been diminished. The Lords became more
reluctant to reject bills that the Commons passed with large majorities, and it became an accepted

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political principle that the support of the House of Commons alone was necessary for a Prime
Minister to remain in office.

Many further reforms were introduced during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The

Reform Act 1867 lowered property requirements for voting in the boroughs, reduced the
representation of the less populous boroughs, and granted parliamentary seats to several growing
industrial towns. The electorate was further expanded by the Representation of the People Act
1884, under which property qualifications in the counties were lowered. The Redistribution of Seats
Act of the following year replaced almost all multi-member constituencies with single-member
constituencies.

The next important phase in the history of the House of Commons came during the early

twentieth century. In 1908, the Liberal Government under Herbert Henry Asquith introduced a
number of social welfare programmes, which, together with an expensive arms race with Germany,
had forced the Government to seek more funding in the form of tax increases. In 1909, the
Chancellor

of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George, introduced the "People's Budget", which proposed a new
tax targeting wealthy landowners. The unpopular measure, however, failed in the heavily
Conservative House of Lords. Having made the powers of the House of Lords a primary campaign
issue, the Liberals were re-elected in January 1910. Asquith then proposed that the powers of the
House of Lords be severely curtailed. Proceedings on the bill were briefly interrupted by the death
of King Edward VII, but were soon recommenced under the new monarch, George V. After the
election in December 1910 the Asquith Government secured the passage of a bill to curtail the
powers of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister proposed, and the King agreed, that the House
of Lords could be flooded by the creation of 500 new Liberal peers if it failed to pass the bill. The
Parliament Act 1911 came into effect, destroying the legislative equality of the two Houses of
Parliament. The House of Lords was permitted only to delay most legislation, for a maximum of
three parliamentary sessions or two calendar years (reduced to two sessions or one year by the
Parliament Act 1949). Since the passage of these Acts, the House of Commons has remained the
dominant branch of Parliament, both in theory and in practice.

Since the 17th century, MPs had been unpaid. Most of the men elected to the Commons

had private incomes, while a few relied on financial support from a wealthy patron. Early Labour
MPs were often provided with a salary by a trade union, but this was declared illegal by a House of
Lords judgement of 1910. Consequently a clause was included in the Parliament Act 1911
introducing salaries for MPs. It should be noted, however, that government ministers had always
been paid.

Members and elections

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Each Member of Parliament represents a single constituency. Prior to the reforms of the

19th century, the constituencies had little basis in population: the counties and the boroughs
(whose boundaries were fixed) were, for the most part, represented by two Members each.
Reforms enacted during the 19th century, starting with the Reform Act 1832, led to a more even
distribution of seats. Moreover, the reforms of 1885 abolished most two-member constituencies;
the few that remained were all abolished in 1948. University constituencies (the constituencies that
allowed important universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and the ancient universities of Scotland
to be represented in Parliament) were abolished in the same year. Thus, each constituency now
elects only one Member of Parliament. There is still a technical distinction between county
constituencies and borough constituencies, but the only effect of this difference involves the
amount of money candidates are allowed to spend during campaigns.

The boundaries of the constituencies are determined by four permanent and independent

Boundary Commissions, one each for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The
number of constituencies assigned to the four parts of the United Kingdom is based roughly on
population, but subject to certain statutory regulations. England, Wales, and Scotland must have a
total of approximately 613 constituencies, and Northern Ireland between 16 and 18 constituencies,
and Wales at least 35 constituencies. The Commissions conduct general reviews of electoral
boundaries once every 8 to 12 years, as well as a number of interim reviews. In drawing
boundaries, they are required to take into account local government boundaries, but may deviate
from this requirement in order to prevent great disparities in the populations of the various
constituencies. The proposals of the Boundary Commissions are subject to parliamentary
approval, but may not be amended by Parliament. After the next general review of constituencies,
the Boundary Commissions will be absorbed into the Electoral Commission, which was established
in 2000. Currently the United Kingdom is divided into 646 constituencies, with 529 in England, 40
in Wales, 59 in Scotland, and 18 in Northern Ireland.

General elections occur whenever Parliament is dissolved by the Sovereign. The timing of

the dissolution is normally chosen by the Prime Minister (see relationship with the Government
below); however, a parliamentary term may not last for more than five years, unless a Bill
extending the life of Parliament passes both Houses and receives Royal Assent. The House of
Lords, exceptionally, retains its power of veto over such a Bill.

The date of a General Election is the choice of the Prime Minister, but traditionally, it tends

to be a Thursday. Each candidate must submit nomination papers signed by ten registered voters
from the constituency, and pay a deposit of Ł500, which is refunded only if the candidate wins at
least five per cent of the vote. The deposit seeks to discourage frivolous candidates. Each
constituency returns one Member, using the first-past-the-post electoral system, under which the
candidate with a plurality of votes wins. Minors, Members of the House of Lords, prisoners, and
insane persons are not qualified to become Members of the House of Commons. In order to vote,
one must be a resident of the United Kingdom as well as a citizen of the United Kingdom, of a

74

British overseas territory, of the Republic of Ireland, or of a member of the Commonwealth of
Nations. Also, British citizens living abroad are allowed to vote for 15 years after moving from the
United Kingdom. No person may vote in more than one constituency.

Once elected, the Member of Parliament normally continues to serve until the next

dissolution of Parliament or until death. If a Member, however, ceases to be qualified (see
qualifications below), his or her seat falls vacant. It is possible for the House of Commons to expel
a Member, but this power is exercised only when the Member has engaged in serious misconduct
or criminal activity. In each case, a vacancy may be filled by a by-election in the appropriate
constituency. The same electoral system is used as in general elections.

The term "Member of Parliament" is normally used only to refer to Members of the House of

Commons, even though the House of Lords is also a part of Parliament. Members of the House of
Commons may use the post-nominal letters "MP". The annual salary of each Member is Ł59,095;
Members may receive additional salaries in right of other offices they hold (for instance, the
Speakership). Most Members also claim between Ł100,000 and Ł150,000 for various office
expenses (staff costs, postage, travelling, etc) and also in the case of non-London Members for the
costs of maintaining a home in London.

Qualifications

There are numerous qualifications that apply to Members of Parliament. Most importantly,

one must be aged at least 21 (although this is due to change to 18), and must be a citizen of the
United Kingdom, of a British overseas territory, of the Republic of Ireland, or of a member of the
Commonwealth of Nations, in order to be eligible. These restrictions were introduced by the British
Nationality Act 1981, but were previously far more stringent: under the Act of Settlement 1701, only
natural-born subjects were qualified. Members of the House of Lords may not serve in the House
of Commons, or even vote in parliamentary elections; however, they are permitted to sit in the
chamber during debates.

A person may not sit in the House of Commons if he or she is the subject of a Bankruptcy

Restrictions Order (applicable in England and Wales only), or if he or she is adjudged bankrupt (in
Northern Ireland), or if his or her estate is sequestered (in Scotland). Also, lunatics are ineligible to
sit in the House of Commons. Under the Mental Health Act 1983, two specialists must report to the
Speaker that a Member is suffering from mental illness before a seat can be declared vacant.
There also exists a common law precedent from the 18th century that the "deaf and dumb" are
ineligible to sit in the Lower House; this precedent, however, has not been tested in recent years,
and is highly unlikely to be upheld by the courts. Jack Ashley continued to serve as an MP for 25
years after becoming profoundly deaf.

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Anyone found guilty of high treason may not sit in Parliament until he or she has either

completed the term of imprisonment, or received a full pardon from the Crown. Moreover, anyone
serving a prison sentence of one year or more is ineligible. Finally, the Representation of the
People Act 1983 disqualifies for ten years those found guilty of certain election-related offences.
Several other disqualifications are established by the House of Commons Disqualification Act
1975. Holders of high judicial offices, civil servants, members of the regular armed forces,
members of foreign legislatures (excluding members of the legislatures of the Republic of Ireland
and Commonwealth countries), and holders of several Crown offices listed in the Act are all
disqualified. The provisions of the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 largely consolidate
the clauses of several previous enactments; in particular, several Crown officers had already been
disqualified since the passage of the Act of Settlement 1701. Ministers, even though they are paid
officers of the Crown, are not disqualified.

The rule that precludes certain Crown officers from serving in the House of Commons is

used to circumvent a resolution adopted by the House of Commons in 1623, under which Members
are not permitted to resign their seats (in theory). In practice, however, they always can. Should a
Member wish to resign from the House of Commons, he may request appointment to one of two
ceremonial Crown offices: that of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, or that of
Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead. These offices are sinecures (that is, they
involve no actual duties); they exist solely in order to permit the "resignation" of Members of the
House of Commons. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is responsible for making the appointment,
and, by convention, never refuses to do so when asked by a Member who desires to leave the
House of Commons.

Officers

The House of Commons elects a presiding officer, known as the Speaker, at the beginning

of each new parliamentary term, and also whenever a vacancy arises. If the incumbent Speaker
seeks a new term, then the House may re-elect him or her merely by passing a motion; otherwise,
a secret ballot is held. A Speaker-elect cannot take office until he or she has been approved by the
Sovereign; the granting of the royal approbation, however, is a formality. The Speaker is assisted
by three Deputy Speakers, the most senior of which holds the title of Chairman of Ways and
Means. The two other Deputy Speakers are known as the First and Second Deputy Chairman of
Ways and Means. These titles derive from the Committee of Ways and Means, a body over which
the Chairman once used to preside; even though the Committee was abolished in 1967, the
traditional titles of the Deputy Speakers are still retained. The Speaker and the Deputy Speakers
are always Members of the House of Commons.

Whilst presiding, the Speaker or Deputy Speaker wears a ceremonial black robe. The

presiding officer may also wear a wig, but this tradition has been abandoned by the present

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Speaker, Michael Martin, and by his predecessor, Betty Boothroyd. The Speaker or Deputy
Speaker presides from a chair at the front of the House. The Speaker is Chairman of the House of
Commons Commission, which oversees the running of the House, and controls debates by calling
on Members to speak. If a Member believes that a rule (or Standing Order) has been breached, he
or she may raise a "point of order," on which the Speaker makes a ruling that is not subject to any
appeal. The Speaker may discipline Members who fail to observe the rules of the House. Thus, the
Speaker is far more powerful than his Lords counterpart, the Lord Speaker, who has no disciplinary
powers at all. Customarily, the Speaker and the Deputy Speakers are non-partisan; they do not
vote, or participate in the affairs of any political party. By convention, a Speaker seeking re-election
is not opposed in his or her constituency by any of the major parties. The lack of partisanship
continues even after the Speaker leaves the House of Commons.

The Clerk of the House is both the House's chief adviser on matters of procedure and Chief

Executive of the House of Commons. He is a permanent official, not a Member of the House itself.
The Clerk advises the Speaker on the rules and procedure of the House, signs orders and official
communications, and signs and endorses bills. He chairs the Board of Management, which
consists of the heads of the six departments of the House. The Clerk's deputy is known as the
Clerk Assistant. Another officer of the House is the Serjeant-at-Arms, whose duties include the
maintenance of law, order, and security on the House's premises. The Serjeant-at-Arms carries the
ceremonial Mace, a symbol of the authority of the Crown and of the House of Commons, into the
House each day in front of the Speaker. The Mace is laid upon the Table of the House of
Commons during sittings.

Procedure

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Benches in the House of Commons Chamber are coloured green.
In contrast, the House of Lords is decorated in red.

Like the House of Lords, the House of Commons meets in the Palace of Westminster in

London. The Commons Chamber is small and modestly decorated in green, in contrast with the
large, lavishly furnished red Lords Chamber. There are benches on two sides of the Chamber,
divided by a centre aisle. This arrangement reflects the design of St Stephen's Chapel, which
served as the home of the House of Commons until destroyed by fire in 1834. The Speaker's chair
is at one end of the Chamber; in front of it is the Table of the House, on which the Mace rests. The
Clerks sit at one end of the Table, close to the Speaker so that they may advise him or her on
procedure when necessary. Members of the Government sit on the benches on the Speaker's
right, whilst members of the Opposition occupy the benches on the Speaker's left.

In front of each set of benches, a red line is drawn on the carpet. The red lines in front of

the two sets of benches are two sword-lengths apart; a Member is traditionally not allowed to cross
the line during debates, for he or she is then supposed to be able to attack an individual on the
opposite side. Government ministers and important Opposition leaders sit on the front rows, and
are known as "frontbenchers." Other Members of Parliament, in contrast, are known as
"backbenchers." Oddly, all Members of Parliament cannot fit in the Chamber, which can seat only
427 of the 646 Members. Members who arrive late must stand near the entrance of the House if
they wish to listen to debates. Sittings in the Chamber are held each day from Monday to
Thursday, and also on some Fridays. During times of national emergency, the House may also sit
on Saturdays.

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Due to recent reforms, the House of Commons sometimes meets in another chamber in the

Palace of Westminster, Westminster Hall. Debates in Westminster Hall are generally
uncontroversial or non-partisan; business which leads to actual votes must still be conducted in the
main Chamber. Westminster Hall sittings take place each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. On
Wednesdays the sitting is suspended for a lunch break. Sittings are also suspended whenever
there is a division taking place in the House itself.

Sittings of the House are open to the public, but the House may at any time vote to sit in

private, by the vote of a simple majority. Traditionally, a Member who desired that the House sit
privately could shout "I spy strangers", and a vote would automatically follow. In the past, when
relations between the Commons and the Crown were less than cordial, this procedure was used
whenever the House wanted to keep its debate private. More often, however, this device was used
to delay and disrupt proceedings; as a result, it was abolished in 1998. Now, Members seeking that
the House sit in private must make a formal motion to that effect. Public debates are broadcast on
the radio and on television by BBC Parliament, and are recorded in Hansard.

Each year, the parliamentary session begins with the State Opening of Parliament, a

ceremony in the Lords Chamber during which the Sovereign, in the presence of Members of both
Houses, delivers an address on the Government's legislative agenda. The Gentleman Usher of the
Black Rod (a Lords official) is responsible for summoning the Commons to the Lords Chamber;
when he arrives to deliver his summons, the doors of the Commons Chamber are slammed shut in
his face, symbolising the right of the Lower House to debate without interference. The Gentleman
Usher knocks on the door thrice with his Black Rod, and only then is he granted admittance. He
then informs the MPs that the Monarch awaits them. Then they all go to the House of Lords for the
Queen's Speech.

During debates, Members may only speak if called upon by the Speaker (or the Deputy

Speaker, if the Speaker is not presiding). Traditionally, the presiding officer alternates between
calling Members from the Government and Opposition. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the
Opposition, and other leaders from both sides are normally given priority when more than one
Member rises to speak at the same time. Formerly, all Privy Counselors were granted priority;
however, the modernization of Commons procedure led to the abolition of this tradition in 1998.

Speeches are addressed to the presiding officer, using the words "Mr. Speaker," "Madam

Speaker," "Mr. Deputy Speaker," or "Madam Deputy Speaker." Only the presiding officer may be
directly addressed in debate; other Members must be referred to in the third person. Traditionally,
Members do not refer to each other by name, but by constituency, using forms such as "the
Honorable Member for [constituency]," or, in the case of Privy Counselors, "the Right Honorable
Member for [constituency]." The Speaker enforces the rules of the House, and may warn and
punish Members who deviate from them. Disregarding the Speaker's instructions is considered a

79

severe breach of the rules of the House, and may result in the suspension of the offender from the
House. In the case of grave disorder, the Speaker may adjourn the House without taking a vote.

The Standing Orders of the House of Commons do not establish any formal time limits for

debates. The Speaker may, however, order a Member who persists in making a tediously repetitive
or irrelevant speech to stop speaking. The time set aside for debate on a particular motion is,
however, often limited by informal agreements between the parties. Debate may, however, be
restricted by the passage of "Allocation of Time Motions", which are more commonly known as
"Guillotine Motions". Alternatively, the House may put an immediate end to debate by passing a
motion to invoke the Closure. The Speaker is allowed to deny the motion if he or she believes that
it infringes upon the rights of the minority.

When the debate concludes, or when the Closure is invoked, the motion in question is put

to a vote. The House first votes by voice vote; the Speaker or Deputy Speaker puts the question,
and Members respond either "Aye" (in favor of the motion) or "No" (against the motion). The
presiding officer then announces the result of the voice vote, but if his or her assessment is
challenged by any Member, a recorded vote known as a division follows. (The presiding officer, if
he or she believes that the result of the voice vote is so clear that a division is not necessary, may
reject the challenge.) If a division does occur, Members enter one of two lobbies (the "Aye" lobby
or the "No" lobby) on either side of the Chamber, where their names are recorded by clerks. At
each lobby there are two Tellers (themselves Members of the House) who count the votes of the
Members.

Once the division concludes, the Tellers provide the results to the presiding officer, who

then announces them to the House. If there is an equality of votes, the Speaker or Deputy Speaker
has a casting vote. Traditionally, this casting vote is exercised in favor of the government. Ties
rarely occur—the last one was in 1980. The quorum of the House of Commons is 40 members for
any vote; if fewer than 40 members have participated, the division is invalid. Formerly, if a Member
sought to raise a point of order during a division, he was required to wear a hat, thereby signaling
that he was not engaging in debate. Collapsible top hats were kept in the Chamber just for this
purpose. This custom was discontinued in 1998.

The outcome of most votes is largely known beforehand, since political parties normally

instruct members on how to vote. A party normally entrusts some Members of Parliament, known
as whips, with the task of ensuring that all party Members vote as desired. Members of Parliament
do not tend to vote against such instructions, since those who do so are unlikely to reach higher
political ranks in their parties. Errant Members may be deselected as official party candidates
during future elections, and, in serious cases, may be expelled from their parties outright.
Ministers, junior ministers and PPSes who vote against the whips' instructions are likely to lose
their positions. Thus, the independence of Members of Parliament tends to be extremely low, and
"backbench rebellions" by Members discontent with their party's policies are rare. In some

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circumstances, however, parties announce "free votes", allowing Members to vote as they please.
Votes relating to issues of conscience such as abortion and capital punishment are typically free
votes.

Committees

T

The Parliament of the United Kingdom uses committees for a variety of purposes; one

common use is for the review of bills. Committees consider bills in detail, and may make
amendments. Bills of great constitutional importance, as well as some important financial
measures, are usually sent to the Committee of the Whole House, a body that, as its name
suggests, includes all members of the House of Commons. Instead of the Speaker, the Chairman
or a Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means presides. The Committee meets in the House of
Commons Chamber.

Most bills are considered by Standing Committees, which consist of between 16 and 50

members each. The membership of each Standing Committee roughly reflects the standing of the
parties in the whole House. Though "standing" may imply permanence, the membership of
Standing Committees changes constantly; new Members are assigned each time the Committee
considers a new bill. There is no formal limit on the number of Standing Committees, but there are
usually only ten. Rarely, a bill may be committed to a Special Standing Committee, which operates
much like a Standing Committee, but also investigates and holds hearings on the issues raised by
the bill.

The House of Commons also has several Departmental Select Committees. The

membership of these bodies, like that of the Standing Committees, reflects the strength of the
parties in the House of Commons. Each committee elects its own Chairman. The primary function
of a Departmental Select Committee is to scrutinize and investigate the activities of a particular
Government Department; to fulfil these aims, it is permitted to hold hearings and collect evidence.
Bills may be referred to Departmental Select Committees, but such a procedure is very seldom
used.

A separate type of Select Committee is the Domestic Committee. Domestic Committees

oversee the administration of the House and the services provided to Members. Other committees
of the House of Commons include Joint Committees (which also include members of the House of
Lords), the Committee on Standards and Privileges (which considers questions of parliamentary
privilege, as well as matters relating to the conduct of the Members), and the Committee of
Selection (which determines the membership of other committees).

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Legislative functions

Although legislation may be introduced in either House, bills normally originate in the House

of Commons.

The supremacy of the Commons in legislative matters is assured by the Parliament Acts,

under which certain types of bills may be presented for the Royal Assent without the consent of the
House of Lords. The Lords may not delay a money bill (a bill that, in the view of the Speaker of the
House of Commons, solely concerns national taxation or public funds) for more than one month.
Moreover, the Lords may not delay most other public bills for more than two parliamentary
sessions, or one calendar year. These provisions, however, only apply to public bills that originate
in the House of Commons. Moreover, a bill that seeks to extend a parliamentary term beyond five
years requires the consent of the House of Lords.

By a custom that prevailed even before the Parliament Acts, the superiority of the House of

Commons is ensured insofar as financial matters are concerned. Only the House of Commons
may originate bills concerning taxation or Supply; furthermore, Supply bills passed by the House of
Commons are immune to amendments in the House of Lords. In addition, the House of Lords is
barred from amending a bill so as to insert a taxation or Supply-related provision, but the House of
Commons often waives its privileges and allows the Lords to make amendments with financial
implications. Under a separate convention, known as the Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords
does not seek to oppose legislation promised in the Government's election manifesto.

Hence, as the power of the House of Lords has been severely curtailed by statute and by

practice, the House of Commons is clearly the more powerful branch of Parliament.

Relationship with the Government

Although it does not elect the Prime Minister, the position of the parties in the House of

Commons is of overriding importance. By convention the Prime Minister is answerable to, and
must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Thus, whenever the office of Prime Minister
falls vacant, the Sovereign appoints the person most likely to command the support of the House—
normally, the leader of the largest party in the Lower House. (The leader of the second-largest
party becomes the Leader of the Opposition.) In modern times, by convention, the Prime Minister
is always a member of the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords.

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The Prime Minister may only stay in office as long as he or she retains the confidence of

the House of Commons. The Lower House may indicate its lack of support for the Government by
rejecting a Motion of Confidence, or by passing a Motion of No Confidence. Confidence and No
Confidence Motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance: "That this House has no
confidence in Her Majesty's Government." Many other motions are considered confidence issues,
even though not explicitly phrased as such. In particular, important bills that form a part of the
Government's agenda are generally considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget.
When a Government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is
obliged to either resign, or request the monarch to dissolve Parliament, thereby precipitating a
general election.

Except when compelled to do so by an adverse vote on a confidence issue, the Prime

Minister is allowed to choose the timing of dissolutions with the permission of the Monarch, and
consequently the timing of general elections. The timing reflects political considerations, and is
generally most opportune for the Prime Minister's party. However, no parliamentary term can last
for more than five years; dissolution is automatic upon the expiry of this period unless an act of
Parliament is passed extending the maximum term as happened during both World Wars.
Parliament is almost never permitted to sit for the maximum possible term, with dissolutions
customarily being requested earlier.

Whatever the reason—the expiry of Parliament's five year term, the choice of the Prime

Minister, or a Government defeat in the House of Commons—a dissolution is followed by general
elections. If the Prime Minister's party retains its majority in the House of Commons, then the
Prime Minister may remain in power. On the other hand, if his or her party has lost its majority, the
Prime Minister is compelled to resign, allowing the Sovereign to appoint a new premier. A Prime
Minister may resign even if he or she is not defeated at the polls (for example, for personal health
reasons); in such a case, the premiership goes to the new leader of the outgoing Prime Minister's
party. Extraordinarily, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a leader until 1965
and when Anthony Eden resigned in 1957 without recommending a successor, the party was
unable to nominate one.It fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new Prime Minister,
after taking the advice of ministers, and thus simultaneously appoint the leader of a political party.

By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or House of

Lords. A handful has been appointed who are outside Parliament but in most cases they
subsequently entered Parliament either by means of a by-election or receiving a peerage. Since
1902, all Prime Ministers have been members of the Commons (the sole exception, the Earl of
Home disclaimed his peerage days after becoming Prime Minister, and was elected to the House
of Commons as Sir Alec Douglas-Home).

In modern times, a vast majority of ministers belong to the Commons rather than the Lords.

No major cabinet position (except Lord Chancellor and Leader of the House of Lords) has been

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filled by a Lord since Lord Carrington resigned as Foreign Secretary in 1982, though some of the
middle rank Cabinet posts such as Defence Secretary and International Development Secretary
have been filled by peers. The elected status of members of the Commons, as opposed to the
unelected nature of members of the Lords, is seen to lend more legitimacy to ministers from the
Commons. The Prime Minister chooses the Ministers, and may decide to remove them at any time;
the formal appointment or dismissal, however, is made by the Sovereign.

The House of Commons scrutinizes the Government through "Question Time," a period

during which Members have the opportunity to ask questions of the Prime Minister and of other
Cabinet Ministers. Prime Minister's Question Time occurs once each week, normally for a half-hour
each Wednesday. Questions must relate to the responding Minister's official Government activities,
not to his or her activities as a party leader or as a private Member of Parliament. Customarily,
members of the Government party and members of the Opposition alternate when asking
questions. In addition to questions asked orally during Question Time, Members of Parliament may
also make inquiries in writing.

In practice, the House of Commons' scrutiny of the Government is fairly weak. Since the

first-past-the-post electoral system is employed in elections, the governing party tends to enjoy a
large majority in the Commons; there is often limited need to compromise with other parties.
Modern British political parties are so tightly organized that they leave relatively little room for free
action by their MPs. Thus, during the 20th century the Government has lost confidence issues only
thrice—twice in 1924, and once in 1979. However, the threat of rebellions by backbench MPs often
forces Governments to make concessions to their cause (see top-up fees, foundation hospitals).
Occasionally the Government is defeated by backbench rebellions (Terrorism Act 2006). However,
the scrutiny provided by the Select Committees is more serious.

The House of Commons technically retains the power to impeach Ministers of the Crown

(or any other subject, even if not a public officer) for their crimes. Impeachments are tried by the
House of Lords, where a simple majority is necessary to convict. The power of impeachment,
however, has fallen into disuse; the House of Commons exercises its checks on the Government
through other means such as No Confidence Motions. The last impeachment was that of Henry
Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806.

FIRST PAST THE POST

The plurality voting system is a system used to elect members of a parliament which is

based on single member constituencies.

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The most common system, used in the UK and USA is first past the post, a voting system in

which a single winner is chosen in a given constituency by having the most votes, regardless of
whether or not he or she has a majority of votes.

The term first past the post (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) was coined as an analogy to horse

racing, where the winner of the race is the first to pass a particular point on the track (in this case a
plurality of votes), after which all other runners automatically and completely lose (that is, the
payoff is "winner-take-all"). There is, however, no "post" that the winning candidate must pass in
order to win, as they are only required to receive the largest number of votes in their favor. This
sometimes results in the alternative name "furthest past the post".

Historically, FPTP has been a contentious electoral system, giving rise to the concept of

electoral reform and a multiplicity of different voting systems intended to address perceived
weaknesses of plurality voting.

Plurality voting is used in 43 of the 191 countries in the United Nations for either local or

national elections. Plurality voting is particularly prevalent in the United Kingdom and former British
colonies, including the United States and Canada.

CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a

constitutional system which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state.

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Modern constitutional monarchies usually implement the concept of trias politica or "separation of
powers", where the monarch either is the head of the executive branch or simply has a ceremonial
role. Where a monarch holds absolute power, it is known as an absolute monarchy. The process of
government and law within an absolute monarchy can be very different from that in a constitutional
monarchy.

A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a king or queen reigns with

limits to their power along with a governing body (i.e. Parliament), giving rise to the modern adage
"the Queen reigns but does not rule". A constitutional monarchy was able to form in England
across different periods of history for a complex combination of reasons: sometimes due to a lack
of strong leadership, and at other times due to strong leaders short of funding, who needed to raise
money to prosecute wars, and needed to address public grievances to ensure this money was
forthcoming. Historically, the English had not believed in the "Divine Right of Kings": ever since
Magna Carta in 1215, the monarchy had been regarded as a contractual political instrument. In the
17th Century, abuse of power by the Stuart dynasty, and their attempts to import the doctrine of
"Divine Right" from Scotland, caused the English to question the royal authority and revive earlier
safeguards against executive power. Parliament took several key steps to limit the power of the
King. They revived the English instrument of impeachment, which held the King's ministers to be
responsible for his actions; hence the King's servants could be executed for implementing
unpopular policies. They forced Charles I to sign the Petition of Right that re-affirmed that the King
must go through Parliament to enact new laws, taxes, etc. After signing the Petition of Right,
Charles I immediately ignored it, precipitating the English Civil Wars, and the eventual beheading
of the King for treason. This sent a message to future monarchs of England that they did not have
absolute power. During the reign of Charles II, Parliament passed the Habeas Corpus. The
Habeas Corpus Act said that any prisoner taken by the King would be given a trial. This prevented
the King from simply removing his enemies by sending them to jail. When James II took the throne
many people did not appreciate it when he flaunted his Catholicism. Therefore Parliament flexed its
muscles once again by asking William of Orange to overthrow the king. William and his wife Mary
came from the Netherlands and overthrew James II without bloodshed. This was called the
“Glorious Revolution”. Once William and Mary had gained control of the throne, they completely
supported the constitutional monarchy. Together they signed the Bill of Rights, which severely
limited the power of the king, and gave more freedom to his subjects. One supporter of
constitutional monarchy was John Locke. He wrote in his “Treatises on Government” that a direct
democracy is the best form of government. He wrote that people are able to improve and rule
themselves, and that people have three main rights. These rights are life, liberty, and property, and
it is the government’s job to protect these rights. He also wrote that if the government is unjust the
people have the right to overthrow it, a doctrine that was invoked during the American Revolution.

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This evolution in thinking would eventually spawn such movements as universal suffrage

and political parties. By the mid 20th Century, the political culture in Europe had shifted to the point
where all constitutional monarchs had been reduced to the status of effective figureheads, with no
effective power at all. Instead, it was the democratically elected parliaments, and their leader, the
prime minister who had become the true rulers of the nation. In many cases even the monarchs
themselves, who once sat at the very top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status
of "servants of the people" to reflect the new, egalitarian reality.

Constitutional monarchies today

The most significant family of constitutional monarchies in the world today are the sixteen

Realms of the Commonwealth of Nations, all independent parliamentary democracies under a
common monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. Unlike the United Kingdom, almost all of the other
countries within the Commonwealth have written constitutions with complex processes for
constitutional change. Through political crises, peaceful constitutional drafting and international
debate, the Westminster conventions concerning the constitutional monarch have gained much
clearer definition in the other fifteen Realms than in the United Kingdom. In many of these
constitutions, the monarch or the representative of the Crown is regarded as an integral part of the
executive and legislative branches of government, and that position is explicitly protected, at least
in part, by the written constitution.

Unlike some of their continental European counterparts, the Westminster monarch and her

representatives retain significant "reserve" or "prerogative" powers, to be wielded only in times of
extreme emergency or constitutional crises (e.g., Australia 1975, Grenada 1983, Solomon Islands
1994), usually to uphold parliamentary government. In such instances, a lack of understanding by
the public of constitutional convention can cause controversy. For example, in the 1975 dismissal
of the Whitlam government in Australia, Governor General John Kerr was widely blamed for his
intervention over the supply crisis, much to the bewilderment of British and Canadian constitutional
scholars. Instead a number of these authorities such as Lord Hailsham (the former Lord Chancellor
of the United Kingdom) and Senator Eugene Forsey (the leading Canadian constitutional authority
on the reserve powers of the Crown) argued that the blame for the crisis in Australia and its
outcome should have been directed at the then Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Fraser, who
was both politically responsible for refusing supply and causing the immediate crisis, and who was
formally responsible for the Whitlam dismissal under the Westminster conventions concerning
exercise of the reserve powers. Based on this controversy, legal commentators have since argued
that public understanding of the Crown's constitutional role must be heightened if monarchs are to
survive even the legitimate exercises of their duties in a time of crisis.

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With the exception of post-war Italy, no modern, democratic constitutional monarchy has

voted to abolish itself, but Greece voted against reestablishing its constitutional monarchy after the
military government had been ousted.

Though many of Europe's past and present leftist parties contain anti-monarchy factions, to

date few have openly declared a preference for flat-out monarchial abolition, and instead use their
powers to curtail and reform alleged "un-democratic" or "prejudiced" elements of the monarchy.
For example, in recent years the age-old tradition of "males first" order of succession to the throne
has been abolished in some European constitutional monarchies, allowing for eldest daughters to
assume the throne before their brothers.

One common view as to why modern constitutional monarchies continue to survive is that

the individual royal families themselves have remained popular. Today, most contemporary royal
families go out of their way to project a modern image to the citizenry of a monarchy that is both
caring and interested in the people and their country. Many members of modern royal families
frequently make donations or participate in charity events, visit poor or sick citizens, and make
public appearances at high profile sporting or arts events. Such moves can help make a monarchy
seem contemporarily relevant, especially when the royals themselves get involved within the
community. As long as a monarchy can remain popular in the public eye, there is little reason for
the politicians to meddle, and those who do can easily find themselves at the receiving end of
harsh public criticism.

Other defenders of constitutional monarchies argue that royal families promote tourism, and

are a (key) tradition associated with patriotism and national pride. For example, in many
constitutional monarchies the monarch's birthday is a national holiday, and an event marked with
public patriotic events and parties. In recent years many royal families have also become popular
targets of tabloid journalism and gossip, which although often argued as being intrusive and
destructive, continues to prove that many find royals interesting simply as celebrities. A further
argument speculates that abolishing a popular monarchy may be a pointless endeavor anyway, as
even a "deposed" royal family could presumably still live their royal lifestyle and capture public
attention, making any republican replacement seem illegitimate. Historically, when monarchies
have been abolished the royal family was usually exiled to a foreign country to prevent their
presence from interfering or distracting from the new republican government. However, such
moves were usually done during periods of conflict and turmoil with the monarchy. If a democratic
country was to abolish its monarchy today, an exile for the royal family would likely be denounced
as cruel, and would thus not be seen as a practical option.

In the 20th century, a much more politically sophisticated view in favour of preserving

constitutional monarchies in parliamentary democracies has emerged, for example, in the case of
Queen Elizabeth II, in terms of the usefulness of an observer within the Executive who is
unaffiliated with political parties, who does not owe her job security to the Prime Minister of the

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day, and who can afford to scrutinize political controversies that may sweep the incumbent Prime
Minister from office. She has no policy powers -- that is the domain of the elected government,
headed by the Prime Minister -- but she is a required, formal co-signatory to political instruments,
who has a personal stake in protecting constitutional government from non-justifiable abuses. The
most famous advocates of this view were Canadian historian Eugene Forsey (later a Canadian
senator, whose defense of the monarchy formed part of his doctoral thesis in history at Oxford) and
Australian lawyer H.V. Evatt (later a High Court Judge and Australian attorney-general, whose
treatment of Westminster law concerning the monarch and reserve powers was the basis of
his doctoral thesis in law). It is interesting to note both Forsey and Evatt were social democrats,
heavily involved in the labour movements of their respective countries. Their work built on that of
Alpheus Todd, the 19th Century Librarian of the Canadian House of Commons. Todd's
encyclopedic work effectively contradicted the popularly-known, class-obsessed treatise by Walter
Bagehot, whose opinions on the monarchy as a "bauble" to distract the "lower" classes remains
influential in Britain. In recent decades Bagehot has been effectively discredited, his historical,
political and legal assumptions disproved. (For example, his belief that the Queen's position exists
solely at the pleasure of the British Parliament, without reference to the electorate, does not
withstand detailed scrutiny.)

Ironically, given the public perception of wealth and privilege associated with monarchy, the

Todd/Evatt/Forsey case argues that the reserve powers of the Crown and the peculiar nature of
the office render it a useful, if limited, asset against the "presidential" aspirations of prime ministers,
and a superior safeguard for Executive oversight than anything available in a republican context.
The case suggests she is an external observer who, when combined with the conventions of
ministerial responsibility, enhances the democratic accountability of the Executive branch to the
elected legislature, and the accountability of the elected legislature to the electorate. Put simply,
requiring prime ministers to bow the knee and show deference and humility on a regular basis is a
useful way of keeping their egos under control.

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FORMATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Statute of Rhuddlan (1284)

Laws in Wales Acts (1535–42)

Acts of Union (1707)

Act of Union (1801)

Government of Ireland Act (1920)

Anglo–Irish Treaty (1921)

Royal & Parliamentary Titles Act (1927)

Statute of Rhuddlan

The Statute of Rhuddlan was created on 3rd March 1284 after the conquest of Wales by

the English king Edward I.

The Statute of Rhuddlan was issued from Rhuddlan Castle in north Wales, which was built

as one of the 'iron ring' of fortresses by King Edward I, in his late 13th century campaigns against
the Welsh.

After the defeat and death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in 1282, Wales was incorporated into

England and Edward set about pacifying the new territory.

The Statute divided parts of Wales into the counties of Anglesey, Merioneth and

Caernarvon, were created out of the remnants of Llewelyn's Kingdom of Gwynedd.

It introduced the English common law system, and allowed the King to appoint royal

officials such as sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs to collect taxes and administer justice. In addition,
the offices of justice and chamberlain were created to assist the sheriff.

Some Welsh customs were allowed to remain, such as the specifics of inheritance, and the

Marcher Lords retained most of their independence, as they had prior to the conquest.

The Statute remained in effect until Henry VIII's Laws in Wales Act in 1536.

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Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542

The Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 were a series of parliamentary measures by which the

legal system of Wales was annexed to England and the norms of English administration introduced
in order to create a single state and a single legal jurisdiction, which is frequently referred to as
England and Wales. The Acts refer in particular to two Acts of Parliament passed in 1536 and 1543
during the reign of King Henry VIII of England, who came from the Welsh Tudor dynasty.

The Acts have been known as the "Acts of Union", but they were not popularly referred to

as such until 1901, when historian Owen M. Edwards assigned them that name — a name which is
misleading as the Acts were concerned with harmonising laws, not political union.

This harmonization was done by passing a series of measures between 1536 and 1543.

These Acts also had the following effects on the administration of Wales:



the marcher lordships were abolished as political units and five new counties
(Monmouthshire, Brecknockshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire) were
established, thus creating a Wales of 13 counties;



other areas of the lordships were annexed to Shropshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire,
Glamorgan, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Cardiganshire and Merionethshire



the borders of Wales were established and have remained the same since; this was
unintentional as Wales was to be incorporated fully into England, but the status of
Monmouthshire was still ambiguous until 1974;



the courts of the marcher lordships lost the power to try serious criminal cases;



the office of Justice of the Peace was introduced;



Wales elected members to the Westminster Parliament;



the Council of Wales and the Marches was established on a legal basis;



the Court of Great Sessions were established, a system peculiar to Wales;



a Sheriff was appointed in every county, and other county officers as in England.

These measures were not unpopular with the Welsh, who recognized that they would give

them equality under law with English citizens. The reaction of the prominent Welsh of the day and
down the centuries was very similar — gratitude that the laws had been introduced and made
Wales a peaceful and orderly country.

It was only much later that some of the Welsh started to feel, in the words of A. O. H.

Jarman, "that the privileges of citizenship were only given to the Welsh on condition that they
forgot their own particular past and personality, denied their Welshness, and merged with
England."

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Despite historians such as G. R. Elton, who treated the Acts as merely a triumph of Tudor

efficiency, modern British and Welsh historians are more likely to investigate evidence of the
damaging effects of the Acts on Welsh identity, culture, and economy. While the Welsh gentry
embraced the Acts and quickly attempted to merge themselves into English aristocracy, the Welsh
farmers of remoter districts could have found themselves adrift amidst a legal and economic
system whose language and focus were unfamiliar to them.

Acts of Union 1707

The Acts of Union were a pair of Acts of Parliament passed in 1706 and 1707 (taking effect

on 1 May 1707) by, respectively, the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The
acts were the implementation of the Treaty of Union negotiated between the two kingdoms. The
effect of the Acts was twofold:



to create a new state, the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the name had been used on
occasion since 1603 when speaking of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland together,
which had shared a monarch from that date but retained sovereign parliaments. Wales was
also part of Great Britain since it had been annexed by England by the Laws in Wales Acts
1535-1542.



to dissolve both parliaments and replace them with a new Parliament of Great Britain
(known as the Union of the Parliaments). The new parliament was to be based in the
former home of the English Parliament.

Act of Union 1800

The Act of Union 1800 merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain

(itself a merger of England and Wales and Scotland under the Act of Union 1707) to create the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801. The act received the Royal Assent
on 1 August 1800. Prior to this act the two kingdoms had been in personal union with each other
since 1541, when the Protestant Ascendancy dominated Irish Parliament proclaimed King Henry
VIII of England King of Ireland.

The Act was exhausted by both the British and Irish parliaments. Contemporary laws

excluded all non-Anglicans from membership, an exclusion that meant that over 90% of the Irish
population who belonged to other faiths, most notably Roman Catholicism, the religion of the
majority, from membership. Catholics were denied the vote until the 1790s, and furthermore
weren't allowed to become Members of Parliament until Catholic Emancipation in 1829. This Irish
Parliament was the central institution in what had become known by the 1780s as the Protestant
Ascendancy. It was also responsible for a series of anti-Catholic discriminatory laws known as the
Penal Laws. It had been given a large measure of independence by the Constitution of 1782, after
centuries of being subordinated to the English (and later, British) Parliament. Thus, many members
had guarded its autonomy jealously, including Henry Grattan, and had rejected a previous motion

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for Union in 1799. However, a concerted campaign by the British government, the uncertainty that
followed the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and the fact that the Irish and British parliaments, when
creating a regency during King George III's "madness", gave the Prince Regent different powers,
led Great Britain to decide to merge the two kingdoms and their parliaments. The final passage of
the Act in the Irish Parliament was achieved with substantial majorities, achieved in part according
to contemporary documents through bribery, namely the awarding of peerages and honors to
critics to get their votes. Whereas the first attempt had been defeated in the Irish House of
Commons by 109 votes against to 104 for, the second vote in 1800 produced a result of 158 to
115.

The Act had eight articles:



Articles I-IV dealt with the political aspects of the Union which included Ireland having over
100 MPs representing it in the united parliament, meeting in the Palace of Westminster
(more than would be proportionate according to population). Ireland gained 100 seats in the
House of Commons and 32 seats in the House of Lords: 28 representative peers elected
for life, and 4 clergymen of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland, chosen for each session.



Article V created a united Protestant Church of England and Ireland



Article VI created a customs union in which British duties on some Irish goods would be
removed, but Irish duties on imports would remain.



Article VII stated that the Ireland would have to contribute two seventeenths towards the
expenditure of the United Kingdom. The figure was a ratio of Irish to British foreign trade.



Article VIII formalised the legal and judicial aspects of the Union.

Part of the attraction of the Union for many Irish Catholics was the promise of Catholic

Emancipation, thereby allowing Roman Catholic MPs (which had not been allowed in the Irish
Parliament). However this was blocked by King George III who argued that emancipating Roman
Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath; it was delayed until 1829.

Government of Ireland Act 1920

An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland, more usually the Government of

Ireland Act 1920 (this is its official short title; the formal citation is 10 & 11 Geo. 5 c. 67.) was the

second act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to provide for Home Rule in Ireland. It

is the act that partitioned Ireland and created Northern Ireland.

Various attempts had been made to give Ireland limited regional self government, known as

home rule, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The First Home Rule bill proposed 1886 had
been defeated in the British House of Commons following a split in the Liberal Party, while the
Second Home Rule Bill, having been passed by the Commons in 1893 bill was vetoed by the
House of Lords. The 1912 bill was stalled by the same body. However a revolutionary change in

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the British Constitution in 1912 had removed the Lords' ability to veto bills, replacing it with a delay
of three parliamentary sessions.[1] Though rejected by the Lords in 1912 and 1914, it was approved
over the Lords' rejection in 1914, and received the Royal Assent of King George V immediately
before the outbreak of the First World War. Because of the continuing threat of civil war in Ireland,
King George called the Buckingham Palace Conference where Nationalist and Unionist leaders
were invited to seek agreement. The conference eventually failed. Due to controversy over the rival
demands of Irish Nationalists, backed up by the Liberals (for all-island home rule), and Irish
Unionists, backed up by the Conservatives, for the exclusion of most or all of the province of
Ulster, the Act's implementation was delayed until after what was expected to be a short European
war.

Under the Parliament Act to be enacted against the wishes of the House of Lords a Bill had

to be passed three times in identical form by the House of Commons. As a result changes that
were thought necessary between the first attempted enactment in 1912 and its completed
enactment in 1914 could not be included, without starting the whole process of three attempted
enactments all over again. Rather than try to amend the 1914 Act, and face the same problems
over its contents with the House of Lords and a possible three session delay in the enactment of
the amendments, Prime Minister David Lloyd George abandoned the 1914 Act and started again
with a new Bill.

The Bill itself was shaped by the British cabinet's Committee of Ireland, under the

chairmanship of former Ulster Unionist Party leader Walter Long. It was Long, even during the First
World War, who pushed for a radical new idea. Instead of leaving the part of Ireland to be excluded
under direct Westminster rule, he proposed creating two Irish home rule entities, Northern Ireland
and Southern Ireland with unicameral parliaments. The House of Lords amended the Bill to create
two bicameral parliaments, "consisting of His Majesty, the Senate of (Northern or Southern)
Ireland, and the House of Commons of (Northern or Southern) Ireland". The 1920 Act is also
known as the Fourth Home Rule Bill.

While Long's and Lloyd George's thinking was still based on developing on the 1914 Act,

Irish politics had moved on decisively in a different direction. Sinn Féin, standing for 'an
independent sovereign Ireland', had won seventy-three of the one hundred and five parliamentary
seats on the island in the election in the 1918 General Election and established its own Unilateral
Declaration of Independence (UDI) state, the Irish Republic with its own extra-legal parliament, Dáil
Éireann.[2] Thus, when the Act was passed on 23 December 1920 it was already out of touch with
realities in Ireland. The long-standing demand for home rule and been replaced among Nationalists
by a demand for complete independence. The Republic's army was waging the Irish War of
Independence against British rule, which had reached a nadir in late 1920.

The Act divided Ireland into two territories, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, each

intended to be self-governing except in areas specifically reserved to the Parliament of the United

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Kingdom: chief amongst these were matters relating to the Crown, to defence, foreign affairs,
international trade, and currency.

"Southern Ireland" was to be all of Ireland except for "the parliamentary counties of Antrim,
Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast
and Londonderry" which were to constitute "Northern Ireland". Northern Ireland as defined by the
Act, amounting to six of the nine counties of Ulster, was seen as the maximum area within which
Unionists could be expected to have a safe majority. This was in spite of the fact that counties
Fermanagh and Tyrone had Catholic Nationalist majorities.

At the apex of the governmental system was to be the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, who

would be chief executive of both Irish home rule states. The system was based on colonial
constitutional theories. Executive authority was to be vested in the crown, and in theory not
answerable to either parliament. The Lord Lieutenant would appoint a cabinet that did not need
parliamentary support. No provision existed for a prime minister.

Such structures matched the theory in the colonial constitutions in Canada and Australia,

where in theory powers belonged to the governor-general and there was no theoretical
responsibility to parliament. In reality, governments had long come to chosen from parliament and
to be answerable to it. Prime ministerial offices had come into de facto existence.[3] Such
developments were also expected to happen in Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, but
technically were not required under the Act.

The Parliament of Northern Ireland came into being in 1921. At its inauguration, in Belfast

City Hall, King George V made a famous appeal for Anglo-Irish and north–south reconciliation. The
speech, drafted by the government of David Lloyd George on recommendations from Jan Smuts[4]
Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, with the enthusiastic backing of the King, opened the
door for formal contact between the British Government and the Republican administration of
Eamon de Valera.

Southern Ireland never became a reality. All 128 MPs elected to the House of Commons of

Southern Ireland were returned unopposed, and 124 of them, representing Sinn Féin, declared
themselves TDs (Irish for Dáil Deputies) and assembled as the Second Dáil of the Irish Republic.

With only the four Unionist MPs (all representing graduates of the Irish Universities) and 15

appointed senators turning up for the state opening of the Southern Ireland Parliament in the Royal
College of Science in Dublin (now Government Buildings) in June 1921, the new legislature was
suspended.

The House of Commons of Southern Ireland came back into existence again for a short

time under the Anglo–Irish Treaty of 1921, to fulfill two functions. The first was to formally ratify the
Treaty, which it did in January 1922 (The Second Dáil, which had authority in nationalist eyes for

95

ratifying the Treaty, did so in December 1921). Secondly, it was required to put in place a
Provisional Government, which it did, under General Michael Collins. Collins was then legally
installed in office by the Lord Lieutenant, Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent. The Parliament of Northern
Ireland met there in June 1921. The Treaty provided for the ability of Northern Ireland's Parliament,
by formal address, to opt out of the new Irish Free State, which was a foregone conclusion. An
Irish Boundary Commission was set up to redraw the border between the new Irish Free State and
Northern Ireland, but the British and Irish governments agreed to suppress the report when it
emerged that very few majority Nationalist areas were to be transferred to the Irish Free State,
while a rich part of East Donegal was to be transferred to Northern Ireland. The Council of Ireland
never functioned as hoped, (as an embryonic all-Ireland parliament), as the Unionists simply
refused to meet and the British government made no effort to compel them.

In the aftermath of the creation of the Irish Free State, the Irish Free State (Consequential

Provisions) Act adjusted the Northern Ireland system of government slightly to cover the failure of
Southern Ireland to function. The office of Lord Lieutenant was abolished and replaced by the
Governor of Northern Ireland.

The 1920 Act was finally repealed under the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, after

the Belfast Agreement

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty, officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between

Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and
representatives of the extra-judicial Irish Republic which concluded the Irish War of Independence.
It established an Irish dominion within the British Empire known as the Irish Free State and
provided an option for the previously existing Northern Ireland, created by the 1920 Government of
Ireland Act, to opt out of the Irish Free State, which it duly exercised.

The treaty was signed in London by representatives of the British government and envoys

plenipotentiary of the Irish Republic (i.e., negotiators empowered to sign a treaty without reference
back to their superiors) on December 6, 1921. Three-fold ratification of the treaty by Dáil Éireann,
the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and the British Parliament was required. The Irish side
was split on the Treaty, and it was only narrowly ratified in the Dáil. Though duly enacted, the split
produced the Irish Civil War which was ultimately won by the pro-treaty side.

The Irish Free State created by the Treaty came into force on 6 December 1922 by royal

proclamation, after its constitution was enacted by the Third Dáil and the British parliament.

96

Among its main clauses were that:



British forces would withdraw from most of Ireland.



Most of Ireland was to become a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, like
Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and The Union of South Africa.



As with the other dominions, the head of state of the Irish Free State / Saorstát Éireann
would be the British monarch, who would be represented by a Governor General (See
Representative of the Crown).



Members of the new Free State's parliament would be required to take an Oath of
Allegiance to the Free State. A secondary part of the Oath was to "be faithful to His Majesty
King George V., his heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship" as
part of the Treaty settlement.



Northern Ireland (which had been created earlier by the Government of Ireland Act) was to
have the option of withdrawing from the Irish Free State within one month of the Treaty
coming into effect.



If Northern Ireland chose to withdraw, a Boundary Commission would be constituted to
draw the boundary between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.



Britain, for its own security, would continue to control a limited number of ports, known as
the Treaty Ports, for the Royal Navy.



The Irish Free State would assume responsibility for its part of the Imperial debt.



The Treaty would have superior status in Irish law: in the event of a conflict between it and
the new 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State, it would take precedence.

Eamon de Valera sent the Irish plenipotentiaries to the 1921 negotiations in London with

several draft treaties and secret instructions from the cabinet. The first two weeks of the
negotiations were spent in formal sessions. Upon the request of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins,
the two delegations began informal negotiations, in which only two members of each negotiating
team were allowed to attend. On the Irish side, these members were always Collins and Griffith,
while on the British side, Neville Chamberlain always attended, though the second British
negotiator would vary from day to day. In late December, the Irish delegation returned to Dublin to
consult the cabinet according to their instructions. When they returned, Collins and Griffith
hammered out the final details of the treaty, which included British concessions on the wording of
the oath and the defence and trade clauses, along with the addition of a Boundary Commission to
the treaty and a clause upholding Irish unity. Collins and Griffith in turn convinced the other
plenipotentiaries to sign the treaty. Upon Eamon de Valera's hearing of the signing the next day,
he issued a statement calling a cabinet meeting to discuss the treaty. At the end of the cabinet
meeting, de Valera came out against the treaty.

The contents of the Treaty divided the Irish Republic's leadership, with the President of the

Republic, Eamon de Valera, leading the anti-Treaty minority. The Treaty Debates were difficult but
also comprised a wider and robust stock-taking of the position by the contending parties. Their

97

differing views of the past and their hopes for the future were made public. The focus had to be on
the constitutional options, but little mention was made of the economy, nor of how life would now
be improved for the majority of the population. Though Sinn Fein had also campaigned to preserve
the Irish language, very little use was made of it in the debates. Some of the female TDs were
notably in favour of continuing the war until a 32-county state was established. Much mention was
made of '700 years' of British occupation, and even '700 centuries'. Personal bitterness developed;
Arthur Griffith said of Erskine Childers: "I will not reply to any damned Englishman in this
Assembly" and Cathal Brugha reminded everyone that the position of Michael Collins in the IRA
was technically inferior to his.

The main dispute was centred on the status as a dominion (as represented by the Oath of

Allegiance and Fidelity) rather than as an independent republic. Partition, though certainly a factor,
was not the most important; both sides believed that the Boundary Commission would transfer
many large nationalist areas to the Free State, reducing Northern Ireland's size so as to make it
too small to be a viable political entity, leading to Irish unity.

The Second Dáil formally ratified the Treaty on 7 January 1922 by a vote of 64 to 57. (The

House of Commons of Southern Ireland, which was made up largely of the same membership as
the Dáil, but which was in British constitutional theory the parliament legally empowered to ratify
the Treaty, did so in January 1922.) De Valera resigned as President and was replaced by Arthur
Griffith. Michael Collins formed a Provisional Government of Ireland theoretically answerable to the
House of Commons of Southern Ireland, as the Treaty laid down. In December 1922 a new Irish
constitution was enacted by the Third Dáil, sitting as a Constituent Assembly.

Opponents of the Treaty mounted a military campaign of opposition which produced the

Irish Civil War (1922–23). In 1922 its two main Irish signatories, President Griffith and Michael
Collins, both died. Griffith died partially from exhaustion; Collins, at the signing of the Treaty, had
said that in signing it, he may have signed his "actual death warrant", and he was correct: he was
assassinated by anti-Treaty republicans in Béal na mBláth in August 1922, barely a week after
Griffith's death. Both men were replaced in their posts by William T. Cosgrave.

The Treaty's provisions relating to the monarch, the governor-general, and the treaty's own

superiority in law were all deleted from the Constitution of the Irish Free State in 1932, following the
enactment of the Statute of Westminster by the British Parliament. The Statute provided that all
dominions extant or newly created thereafter were fully independent of the United Kingdom and
thus not subject to any acts of the British Parliament. (The sole exception to this was Canada, at
her own request, who remained nominally subject to the British Parliament until 1982, because the
federal and provincial governments could not agree on an amending formula for the Canadian
Constitution.) Thus, the Government of the Irish Free State was free to change any laws previously
passed by the British Parliament on their behalf.

98

Nearly thirty years earlier, Michael Collins had argued that the Treaty would give "the

freedom to achieve freedom". De Valera himself acknowledged the accuracy of this claim both in
his actions in the 1930s but also in words he used to describe his opponents and their securing of
independence during the 1920s. "They were magnificent", he told his son in 1932, just after he had
entered government and read the files left by Cosgrave's Cumann nan Gaedheal Executive
Council.

Most people in Ireland today, including members of de Valera's own party, Fianna Fáil,

agree that it was a mistake to oppose the Treaty and that it was the best deal possible in the
circumstances. Although the British government of the day had, since 1914, desired home rule for
the whole of Ireland, the British Parliament believed that it could not possibly grant complete
independence to all of Ireland in 1921 without provoking a massacre of Ulster Catholics at the
hands of their heavily-armed Protestant Unionist neighbors. At the time, although there were
Unionists throughout the country, they were concentrated in the northeast and their parliament first
sat on 7 June 1921. An uprising by them against home rule would have been an insurrection
against the "mother county" as well as a civil war in Ireland. Dominion status for 26 counties, with
partition for the six counties that the Unionists felt they could comfortably control, seemed the best
compromise possible at the time.

In fact, what Ireland received in dominion status, on par with that enjoyed by Canada, New

Zealand and Australia, was far more than the Home Rule Act 1914 (negotiated and won, albeit
through democratic parliamentary procedure by the Irish Parliamentary Party leaders John
Redmond and John Dillon), and certainly a considerable advance on the Home Rule once offered
to Charles Stewart Parnell in the nineteenth century.

Further, though it was not generally realized at the time, the Irish Republican Army was in

trouble. It had little ammunition or weaponry left. When Collins first heard that the British had called
a Truce in mid-1921, following King George V's appeal for reconciliation at the opening of the
Parliament of Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, he commented: "We
thought they were mad". The British, though they may never have realized it, were weeks, perhaps
even days, away from inflicting severe losses on an exhausted IRA; though, even if they had, it is
unlikely that some form of autonomy in excess of home rule would not have been achieved, given
the extent to which the Irish population had turned its back on continuing British rule. It is also
doubtful that British public opinion would have tolerated the larger and more frequent atrocities this
would have entailed.

De Valera was once asked in a private conversation what had been his biggest mistake.

His answer was blunt: "Not accepting the Treaty". Current Taoiseach (prime minister and leader of
Fianna Fáil) Bertie Ahern has conceded that the date that marks the real achievement of
independence is 1922, when the Irish Free State created by the Anglo-Irish Treaty came into
being, as this brought about British and international recognition of Irish independence.

99

Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927

Passed on April 12, 1927, the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 was an Act of

Parliament of the United Kingdom that formed a significant landmark in the constitutional history of
the UK and British Empire as a whole. The Act had two consequences. The first was to change the
full name of the United Kingdom (UK) to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
from the former United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in recognition of the fact that the
southern and western part of Ireland was governed by the Irish Free State which had seceded from
the UK in 1922.

A second function was to modify the King's title, proclaiming that George V was not king of

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions but rather of Great
Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions. The full title of the Act was An Act to provide for the
alteration of the Royal Style and Titles and of the Style of Parliament and for purposes incidental
thereto. This change was likely a product of an agreement at the Imperial Conference of 1926
changing the relationship between Britain and the dominions as outlined in the Balfour Declaration
of 1926. It was the Balfour Declaration in which it was agreed that the United Kingdom and the
dominions were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their
domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely
associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations".

Separating the role of the Crown in Great Britain and in Ireland ended the right of the

government in London to advise the King on actions to take regarding Ireland. The King of Ireland
would take advice only from ministers in Dublin. The new Governor-General of the Irish Free State
in Dublin also became a conduit between the King of Ireland and the Executive Council of the Irish
Free State (the government), and did not receive confidential instructions and documents from the
London government.

Separating the roles of the Crown also meant that changes to the succession had to be

agreed upon by all of the Commonwealth Realms, lest the personal union of the Crown be broken.
Éamon de Valera combined Edward VIII's abdication on 11 December 1936 with a drastic limitation
of royal power in Ireland. The delay in passing the Executive Authority (External Relations) Act,
1936 meant that Edward VIII was King of Ireland until 12 December 1936.

However, most constitutional historians concentrate their focus on either the Statute of

Westminster, 1931 or the Balfour Declaration of 1926 as being the crucial milestone in the
evolution of the relationship between the Crown and what was becoming known as the British
Commonwealth.

The 1927 Act did not change the title of the United Kingdom explicitly. Rather, it did this by

changing the title of the British Parliament. Section 2 of the Act changed Parliament's title from the
Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the Parliament of the United

100

Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Historians generally retrospectively date the
coming into being of the modern United Kingdom to December 1922, when the Irish Free State
seceded, even though the formal change of title did not occur for another five years. Despite the
change of name, the Act provided that there would be no change in the numbering of Parliaments.
Thus the legislature then in session continued to be the Thirty-fourth Parliament, and its
successors have been numbered accordingly

The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act was passed following the Imperial Conference of

1926 in which, under the shadow of the King-Byng Affair, Canada led a push among the dominions
for a reinterpretation of the relationship between Britain and the dominions so that the latter would
be equal to the former rather than subordinate. This required a change in the relationship between
the Crown and its realms so that the dominions related to the crown independently and directly
rather than as subjects of the British government.

The government of the Irish Free State put the changes introduced by the Act into

immediate effect, assuming the right to select its own Governor-General, demanding a direct right
of audience with the King, and beginning to accept the credentials of international ambassadors to
the Irish state—something no other Dominion up until that time had done.

The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act was followed by the Statute of Westminster 1931

which granted Dominon parliaments the power to enact or amend almost any legislation they
chose, and removed the right, in most circumstance, for the British Parliament to legislate for the
Dominions.

Most Dominions were slower than the Irish Free State to respond to the constitutional

changes of 1927 and 1931 with moves to sever such ties with the United Kingdom, and many,
when they did, were faced with determined, though ultimately futile, opposition from the United
Kingdom's government of the day. Many Dominions waited until the accession of Elizabeth II in
1952 to codify their new autonomy into domestic law.

An interesting consequence of the 1927 Act was that Edward VIII's abdication in 1936

required separate legal acknowledgement in each Commonwealth nation. In the Irish Free State,
that acknowledgment, in the form of the External Relations Act, occurred a day later than
elsewhere, leaving Edward technically as "King of Ireland" for a day, while George VI was king of
all other Commonwealth realms.

In 1948 and 1953, further changes were made to the title of the monarch by British Acts of

Parliament. However the law passed in 1953 was the first to apply only to the United Kingdom and
its dependencies. In that year the practice was begun of using separate styles for each of the
Commonwealth Realms in which the monarch is head of state, the style in each case determined
by the native parliament.

101

In 1953 the Dominion governments agreed that the practice of separate titles should

continue in the reign of the new Queen Elizabeth II. Each country adopted their own titles, the
British act of parliament clearly stated that it applied only to the United Kingdom and those
overseas territories whose foreign relations were controlled by the UK government.

102

103

THE MOST OUTSTANDING MONARCH IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED

KINGDOM

One of the best remembered kings is HENRY VIII who had six wives. Henry was well

educated and had the mind of a statesman. During his reign Wales was brought into legal union
with England, but Henry ruled as a true and terrible autocrat. His teacher, Sir Thomas More, whom
he made Lord Chancellor, was executed because he refused to accept Henry's second marriage to
Anne Boleyn and his rejection of the authority of Rome. After his quarrel with the Pope and
excommunication, Henry became the head of the newly established Church of England and
dec1ared its independence from Rome. Anne Boleyn was executed, too (for unfaithfulness), and
so was his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

Anne Boleyn's daughter, ELIZABETH, became an outstanding Queen of England, although

her path to the throne necessitated the execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth's
cousin, whom all Catholics in Britain considered the legitimate heir to the English Crown.
ELIZABETH l ruled not by force, but by female diplomacy. Many European kings longed to control
England, but she remained unmarried. The "Virgin Queen" kept them hoping and thus managed
to keep peace with their countries. Although in 1588 the Spanish Armada attempted to invade
England, it was defeated by the British navy led by Sir Francis Drake. Great voyages of discovery
opened the world to English trade and conquest during Elizabeth's reign. Sir Francis Drake, Sir
Walter Raleigh and others were discovering the world under her atronage. Sir Walter Raleigh, who
explored the eastern coast of North America, founded the first English colony there and called it
Virginia in honour of the Queen. The foundation of the British Empire was the result of Elizabeth's
policy. She was the first British monarch to give her name to an era: the Elizabethan age.

Another monarch who gave her name to an age was Queen VICTORIA. She came to the

throne in 1837 at the age of eighteen. After her husband, Prince Albert, died, Victoria withdrew into
seclusion although she reigned for another forty years. During that time the British Empire grew
and grew, and the queen was the dignified symbol of the continuity and stability of the British way
of life. The Victorian age was remarkable for the expansion in wealth and power in Britain where
many changes were taking place. Industry was replacing agriculture as the basis of the economy:
engineering innovations followed one another, and the old aristocracy lost their power to the new
middle class. The British were becoming an urban people. Many schools were built. But Victorian
England is also remembered for its appalling slums and Victorian morality. Queen Victoria reigned
for 64 years, longer than any other sovereign in English history, and when she died in her eighty-
third year, a great era, rather than a reign, had come to an end. Victoria was the first monarch to
live in Buckingham Palace. The British Empire reached its greatest importance in the 1920s. In
1926 the British Commonwealth of Nations was declared. But at the same time the colonial system
entered a series of crises marked by the national liberation movement in the colonies. In 1947,
India led by Mahátma Gándhí, and Pakistan were granted independence; India became a republic.

Queen ELIZABETH II of the House of Windsor became Queen and head of the royal family

following her father's death in 1952. In 1947 she married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, then a
serving Royal Navy Officer, who now bears the title of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince
Philip is descended from the Danish and Greek royal families. Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales,
is the Queen's eldest son and the heir to the throne. He was born in 1948 and educated at the
Duke of Edinburgh's old school of Gordonstoun, in Scotland, at Geelong Grammal' School in
Australia, and at the Universities of Cambridge and Wales. He subsequently served as an officer in
the Royal Navy for five years. In 1981 he married Lady Diana Spencer whose title was the
Princess of Wales. They had two sons, Prince William and Prince Henry. In 1993 the Prince and
Princess of Wales separated.

104

LIST OF MONARCHS OF THE BRITISH ISLES

Monarchs of England

Monarchs of Scotland

Name

Reign

Notes

The West Saxons

Alfred the Great

871–899

Recognised as leader of
all free Englishmen under
the Treaty of Wedmore,
878

Edward the Elder

899–924

Alfred's son

Ćlfweard

924

Edward's son, king of
Wessex only

Athelstan

924–939

Edward's son, the first de
facto king of all England

Edmund I

939–946

Edward's son

Edred

946–955

Edward's son

Edwy the Fair

955–959

Edmund's son

Edgar the
Peaceable

959–975

Edmund's son

St Edward the
Martyr

975–978

Edgar's son

Ethelred the
Unready

978–1013
1014–
1016

Edgar's son

Edmund Ironside

1016

Ethelred's son

The Danish Kings

Both the Saxon and Danish royal houses claimed the

English throne, 1013 to 1016. Denmark and England had

the same king from 1016 to 1042.

Sweyn Forkbeard

1013–
1014

Canute

1016–
1035

Sweyn's son

Harold Harefoot

1035–

Canute's son

Name

Reign

Notes

The House of Alpin

Kenneth I

843–858

Donald I

858–862

Kenneth I's brother

Constantine I

862–877

Kenneth I's son

Áed

877–878

Kenneth I's son

Eochaid

878–889

Áed's nephew
Jointly with Giric ?

Giric

878–889

Áed's first cousin ?

Donald II

889–900

Constantine I's son

Constantine II

900–943

Áed's son

Malcolm I

943–954

Donald II's son

Indulf

954–962

Constantine II's son

Dub

962–966

Malcolm I's son

Cuilén

966–971

Indulf's son

Kenneth II

971–?

Malcolm I's son

Amlaíb

?–977

Indulf's son

Kenneth II

977–995

2nd reign

Constantine III

995–997

Cuilén's son

Kenneth III

997–1005 Dub's son

Malcolm II

1005–
1034

Kenneth II's son

Duncan I

1034–
1040

Malcolm II's grandson

Macbeth

1040–
1057

Kenneth III's
granddaughter's husband

105

1040

Harthacanute

1040–
1042

Canute's son

The West Saxon Restoration

St Edward the
Confessor

1042–
1066

Ethelred's son

Harold Godwinson

1066

Edward the Confessor's
brother-in-law

Edgar the Atheling

1066

Grandson of Edmund
Ironside

The Normans

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, numbering of kings (a

French tradition never used by the English prior to that

date) begins.

William I, the
Conqueror

1066–
1087

Distant kinsman of Alfred
the Great

William II, Rufus

1087–
1100

William I's son,
descendant of Alfred the
Great

Henry I

1100–
1135

William I's son,
descendant of Alfred the
Great

Stephen

1135–
1154

William I's grandson

The Angevins or Plantagenets

The Royal House name changed to reflect Matilda's

marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet.

Matilda (Empress
Maud)

1141

Henry I's daughter,
Edmund Ironside's great-
great-granddaughter

Henry II

1154–
1189

Matilda's son

Richard I, the
Lionheart

1189–
1199

Henry II's son

Monarchs of England and Ireland

In 1199, John, already Lord of Ireland, inherited the

English throne. The title "Lord of Ireland" was used until it

Lulach

1057–
1058

Kenneth III's great-
grandson, Macbeth's

The House of Dunkeld

Malcolm III

1058–
1093

Duncan I's son

Donald III

1093–
1094
1094–
1097

Duncan I's son

Duncan II

1094

Malcolm III's son

Edgar

1097–
1107

Malcolm III's son

Alexander I

1107–
1124

Malcolm III's son

David I

1124–
1153

Malcolm III's son

Malcolm IV

1153–
1165

David I's grandson

William I

1165–
1214

David I's grandson

Alexander II

1214–
1249

William I's son

Alexander III

1249–
1286

Alexander II's son

Margaret

1286-
1290

Alexander III's
granddaughter, never
inaugurated

The House of Balliol

When Margaret died in 1290 there was no clear heir. King

Edward I of England adjudged the claims of Robert Bruce,

5th Lord of Annandale and John Balliol in Balliol's favour.

John

1292–
1296

David I's great-great-
great-grandson

The House of Bruce

When John Balliol rebelled, the Wars of Scottish

Independence commenced, during which Robert the Bruce

became King.

106

was replaced by "King of Ireland" in 1542.

John "Lackland"

1199–
1216

Henry II's son

Louis of France

1216–
1217

descendant of Alfred the
Great; husband of John's
niece

Henry III

1216–
1272

John's son

Edward I
"Longshanks"

1272–
1307

Henry III's son

Edward II

1307–
1327

Edward I's son

Edward III

1327–
1377

Edward II's son

Richard II

1377–
1399

Edward III's grandson

The House of Lancaster

Henry Bolingbroke deposed Richard II, and the Royal

House name came to reflect Henry's father's title, Duke of

Lancaster.

Henry IV

1399–
1413

Edward III's grandson

Henry V

1413–
1422

Henry IV's son

Henry VI

1422–
1461
1470–
1471

Henry V's son

The House of York

The Houses of Lancaster and York had fought the Wars of

the Roses, and the Yorkists took the throne.

Edward IV

1461–
1470
1471–
1483

Edward III's great-great-
grandson

Edward V

1483

Edward IV's son

Richard III

1483–

Edward IV's brother

Robert I

1306–
1329

David I's great-great-
great-great-grandson

David II

1329–
1371

Robert I's son

The House of Balliol

For a period of time, both Edward Balliol and David II

claimed the throne.

Edward Balliol

1332–
1336

John Balliol's son

The House of Stuart

Engaged to the Dauphin at age five, Mary Stuart, Queen of

Scots was thus brought up in the French court where she
became "Marie Stuart, Reine de l'Écosse," etc., to render

the sound of 'Stewart' into French as accurately as

possible. Mary kept the French spelling on her return to

Scotland in 1560.

Robert II

1371–
1390

Robert I's grandson

Robert III

1390–
1406

Robert II's son

James I

1406–
1437

Robert III's son

James II

1437–
1460

James I's son

James III

1460–
1488

James II's son

James IV

1488–
1513

James III's son

James V

1513–
1542

James IV's son

Mary I

1542–
1567

James V's daughter

James VI

1567–
1625

Mary I's son

107

1485

The House of Tudor

The Lancastrian Henry Tudor reclaimed the throne from

the Yorkists.

Henry VII

1485–
1509

Edward III's great-great-
great-grandson

Henry VIII

1509–
1547

Henry VII's son, Edward
IV's grandson

Edward VI

1547–
1553

Henry VIII's son

Jane

1553

Henry VII's great
granddaughter.
Proclaimed Queen on 10
July 1553 but deposed
by Mary I 9 days later.

Mary I

1553–
1558

Henry VIII's daughter

Elizabeth I

1558–
1603

Henry VIII's daughter

Monarchs of England, Scotland and Ireland

In 1603, James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne upon the death of Elizabeth I in what is known as the Union

of the Crowns. From then until 1707, England, Scotland and Ireland had shared monarchs.

The House of Stuart

Name

Reign

Notes

James I (England)
James VI (Scotland)

1603–1625

Son of Mary, Queen of Scots; great-great-grandson
of Henry VII of England; first to be styled "King of
Great Britain" (1604)

Charles I

1625–1649

James VI & I's son

The Period of Interregnum, (Commonwealth and Protectorate)

England had no king from 1649 to 1660, but was a Republic until 1653. Oliver Cromwell then dissolved Parliament and

ruled alone as Lord Protector to his death.

Name

Reign

Notes

Oliver Cromwell

1653–1658

Richard Cromwell

1658–1659

Oliver Cromwell's son

108

Monarchs of England, Scotland and Ireland

In 1659, Richard Cromwell abdicated. Anomie existed until the Stuart Restoration in 1660.

The House of Stuart

Name

Reign

Notes

Charles II

1660–1685 England
1649-1651 and 1660–
1685 Scotland
(1649–1685 de jure)

Charles I's elder son (crowned at Scone, in
Scotland, 1651). He officially dated his reign from his
father's death

James II (England)
James VII (Scotland)

1685–1689

Charles I's younger son

Mary II

1689–1694

James II's elder daughter
Joint sovereign with her husband, William III, II and I

William III (England)
William II (Scotland)
William I (Ireland)

1689–1702

Charles I's grandson
Jointly with his wife, Mary II

Anne

1702–1707

James II's daughter

Monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland

In 1707, the Act of Union merged the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland into the Kingdom of Great

Britain.

The House of Stuart

Name

Reign

Notes

Anne

1707–1714

James II's daughter

The House of Hanover

Under the Act of Settlement 1701, the English (thus, the successor British) throne could only be held by a Protestant.

Sophia of Hanover, the nearest such relative, thus became statutorily designated as the next heir. She died shortly

before Anne, and her place was taken by her son, who thus founded the House of Hanover (aka Guelph and

Brunswick).

George I

1714–1727

James I's great-grandson

George II

1727–1760

George I's son

George III

1760–1801

George II's grandson

Monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

In 1801, the Act of Union combined the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom.

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The House of Hanover

Name

Reign

Notes

George III

1801–1820

George II's grandson

George IV

1820–1830

George III's son

William IV

1830–1837

George III's son

Victoria

1837–1901

George III's granddaughter

The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

The Royal House name was changed to reflect Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but she

herself remained a member of the House of Hanover.

Edward VII

1901–1910

Victoria's son

George V

1910–1917

Edward VII's son

The House of Windsor

The name of the Royal House changed from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917 due to anti-German sentiments

during World War I.

George V

1917–1927

Edward VII's son

Monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

In 1922, the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom. The name of the Kingdom was amended in 1927 to reflect the

change.

The House of Windsor

Name

Reign

Notes

George V

1927–1936

Edward VII's son

Edward VIII

1936

George V's son; abdicated

George VI

1936–1952

George V's son

Elizabeth II

6 February 1952-

George VI's daughter; also queen of 31 other
sovereign kingdoms

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BELFAST AGREEMENT

The Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement and, more rarely, as the
Stormont Agreement) was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. It
was signed in Belfast on 10 April 1998 (Good Friday) by the British and Irish governments and
endorsed by most Northern Ireland political parties. It was endorsed by the voters of Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in separate referenda on 23 May 1998. The Democratic
Unionist Party was the only large party that opposed the Agreement.

Main provisions



The principle that the constitutional future of Northern Ireland should be determined by the
majority vote of its citizens.



One commitment by all parties to "exclusively peaceful and democratic means".



The establishment of a Northern Ireland Assembly with devolved legislative powers.



Creation of a 'power-sharing' Northern Ireland Executive, using the D'Hondt method to
allocate Ministries proportionally to the main parties.

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

Creation of a North-South Ministerial Council and North-South Implementation Bodies to
bring about cross-border cooperation in policy and programmes on a number of issues.



Establishment of a British-Irish Council, composed of representatives from the governments
of the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and
the Isle of Man, to discuss areas of common concern.



Conditional early release within two years of paramilitary prisoners belonging to
organizations observing a ceasefire.



Establishment of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission



A two year target for decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.



The abolition of the Republic's territorial claim to Northern Ireland via the modification
Articles 2 and 3 of its constitution.



New legislation for Northern Ireland on policing, human rights and equality.



Normalization of security measures, e.g. closure of redundant army bases.



Police reform, undertaken by the Patten Commission (1998–1999).



Equality of social, economic and cultural rights of all ethnic communities e.g. official
recognition of the Irish and Ulster-Scots languages as equal to English.

Vague wording of some of the provisions (described as "constructive ambiguity"), which

helped ensure acceptance of the agreement at the time, served to postpone debate on some of the
more contentious issues — most notably paramilitary decommissioning, police reform and
normalization. A date of May 2000 was set for total disarming of all paramilitary groups. This was
not achieved and delayed the establishment of the Assembly and Executive, because one of the
four main parties in the Assembly — Sinn Féin — was "inextricably linked" to the largest
paramilitary group, the Provisional IRA, and unionists refused to share power with this party, while
the PIRA remained armed.

The Assembly and Executive were eventually established in December 1999 on the

understanding that decommissioning would begin immediately, but were suspended within two
months due to lack of progress, before being re-established in May 2000 as Provisional IRA
decommissioning eventually began.

Aside from the decommissioning issue, however, ongoing paramilitary activity (albeit

relatively low level compared to the past) by the Provisional Irish Republican Army — e.g. arms
importations, "punishment beatings", intelligence-gathering and rioting — was also a stumbling
block. The loyalist paramilitaries also continued similar activity.

The overall result of these problems was to damage confidence among unionists in the

Agreement, which was exploited by the anti-Agreement DUP which eventually defeated the pro-
Agreement UUP in the 2003 Assembly election. The UUP had already resigned from the power-
sharing Executive in 2002 following arrests of Sinn Féin personnel on charges of gathering
intelligence for use by terrorists. (These charges were eventually dropped in 2005 on the

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controversial grounds that pursual would not be "in the public interest". Immediately afterwards,
one of the accused Provisional Sinn Féin members, Denis Donaldson was exposed as a
Government agent.)

In 2004, negotiations were held between the two governments, the DUP, and Sinn Féin on

an agreement to reestablish the institutions. These talks failed, but a document published by the
governments detailing changes to the Belfast Agreement became known as the 'Comprehensive
Agreement'.

On 26 September 2005, however, it was announced that the Provisional Irish Republican

Army had completely decommissioned its arsenal of weapons and "put them beyond use".
Nonetheless, many unionists, most notably the DUP, remain skeptical and agreement on how to
restore the power-sharing assembly has still not been reached as of July 2006. Of the loyalist
paramilitaries, only the LVF have decommissioned any weapons.

Referenda

In May 1998 there were separate referenda in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to
endorse the Belfast Agreement. The "No" vote in Northern Ireland came predominantly from
unionists opposed to perceived concessions being made to nationalists and republicans. However
opinion polls suggest a slim majority of unionists may have voted "Yes". In the Republic of Ireland
the electorate voted upon the Nineteenth Amendment. This amendment both permitted the state to
comply with the Belfast Agreement and provided for the removal of the 'territorial claim' contained
in Articles 2 and 3. The Republic of Ireland voted upon the Amsterdam Treaty

on the same day. The

results of the two, simultaneous referenda on the Belfast Agreement were as follows:

Yes

No

Turnout

Northern Ireland 676,966 (71%)

274,879 (29%)

81%

Republic of Ireland 1,442,583 (94%) 85,748 (6%)

56%

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114

ROYAL COAT OF ARMS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

The Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom is the official coat of arms of the British

monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. These arms are used by the Queen in her official capacity
as monarch, and are officially known as her Arms of Dominion.

Variants of the Royal Arms are used by other members of the Royal Family; and by the

British Government in connection with the administration and government of the country. In
Scotland, the Queen has a separate version of the Royal Arms, a variant of which is used by the
Scottish Executive.

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Features

The shield is quartered, depicting in the first and fourth quarters the three lions passant

guardant of England; in the second, the rampant lion and double tressure fleury-counter-fleury of
Scotland; and in the third, a harp for Ireland.

The crest is a lion statant guardant wearing the imperial crown, itself on another

representation of that crown.

The Dexter supporter is a likewise crowned lion, symbolizing England; the sinister, a

unicorn, symbolizing Scotland. According to legend a free unicorn was considered a very
dangerous beast; therefore the British heraldic unicorn is chained.

The coat features both the motto of British monarchs Dieu et mon droit (God and my right)

and the motto of the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qui mal y pense (Shamed be he who thinks ill of
it) on a representation of the Garter behind the shield.

Scotland

The Queen has a separate version of her arms for use in Scotland, which gives the Scottish

elements of her arms pride of place.

The shield is quartered, depicting in the first and fourth quarters the lion rampant and

double tressure fleury-counter-fleury of Scotland; in the second, the three lions passant guardant of
England; and in the third, the harp of Ireland.

The crest is a red lion sitting on a crown, holding a sword and a sceptre. This was the crest

used in the Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland. A motto also appears above the crest which is
taken from the battle cry 'In My Defens God Me Defend', abbreviated to “In Defens.”

The Royal Arms, as used in Scotlande Royal Arms, as used in Scotland

The supporters change sides, and both are crowned. The Dexter supporter is a crowned

and chained unicorn, symbolizing Scotland. The sinister supporter is a crowned lion, symbolizing
England. Between each supporter and the shield is a lance displaying the flag of their respective
Kingdom.

The coat features both the motto Nemo me impune lacessit (No-one wounds (touches) me

with impunity) and the insignia of the Order of the Thistle around the shield.

Uses

The Royal Arms as shown above can only be used by the Queen. They also appear in

court rooms, recognizing the monarch as the font of justice in the UK. Judges are officially servants

of the crown, demonstrated by them bowing to the Queen's Coat of Arms which sits behind the

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judge on the wall of every court in the land, with the exception of the magistrates court in the City

of London, in which a sword stands vertically behind the judge which is flanked by the arms of the

City and the Crown.

The British Government also uses the Royal Coat of Arms as a National symbol of the

United Kingdom, and, in that capacity, the Coat of Arms can be seen on several Government

Documents and forms, passports, in the entrance to embassies and consulates, etc. However,

when used by the Government and not by the Sovereign herself, the coat of arms is usually

represented without the helm.

The Queen also awards Royal Warrants to various businesses that supply the Royal

Household. This allows the business to display the Royal Arms on their packaging and stationery.

A banner of the arms, the Royal Standard is flown from the Royal Palaces when the Queen

is in residence; and from public buildings only when the Queen is present. At Buckingham Palace,

the Queen's main residence, the Royal Standard is flown when she is there. When she is not, the

Union Flag is flown instead.

History

The current Royal Arms are a combination of the arms of the Kingdoms that make up the

United Kingdom, and can be traced back to the first arms of the Kings of England and Scotland.

Various alterations occurred over the years as the arms of other realms acquired or claimed by the

Kings were added to the Royal Arms. The table below tracks the changes in the Royal Arms from

the original arms of King Henry II of England, and King William I of Scotland.

Royal Family Arms

Members of the British Royal Family receive their own personalized arms which are based

on the Royal Arms. Only children and grandchildren in the male line of the monarch are entitled to
receive their own arms in this fashion. The arms of children of the monarch are differentiated by a
three point label; grandchildren of the monarch are differentiated by a five point label. An exception
is made for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, who received a three point label. Since 1911,
the arms of the Prince of Wales also has an in escutcheon of the ancient arms of the Principality of
Wales.

Queen consorts and the wives of sons of the monarch also receive their own personalized

coat of arms. Typically this will be the arms of their husband impaled with their own personal arms
or those of their father. However, the consorts of a Queen regnant are not entitled to use the Royal
Arms. Thus Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh uses his own personalized arms.

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Government Arms

British Government

Scottish Executive

The British Government uses a version of the Royal Arms but without the helm or crest, while in
Scotland, the Scottish Executive uses the Scottish version, again without the helm or crest. In both
arms, the crown sits directly on the shield

The Arms feature on



All Acts of Parliament;



The cover of all UK passports; and



As an inescutcheon on the Diplomatic flags for a British Ambassador

It is also used by the following government departments



The Foreign and Commonwealth Office;



HM Treasury;



The shield of the Royal Arms with the motto of the Order of the Garter is used by the Home
Office; and



The shield of the Royal Arms is used by the Royal Mint.

Blazon

The Irish royal crest On a torse azure and or, a castle triple-towered of the second, from the

portal thereof a hart springing argent attired and hooved or is rarely if ever seen on the arms of the

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United Kingdom, as unlike the Act of Union 1707 with Scotland, the Act of Union 1800 with Ireland
did not provide for a separate Irish version of the royal arms.

There is also no representation for Wales in the Royal Arms, as Wales was never a

separate kingdom. However the dragon was used as a supporter on the Royal Arms by the Tudor
Kings and Queens, reflecting that dynasty's Welsh origins.

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

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"God Save the King/Queen" is a patriotic hymn, and the national anthem of the United Kingdom.
It is also one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, and the royal anthem of Canada,
Australia, and the other Commonwealth Realms, as well as the royal anthem of the British Royal
Family. When the British monarch is male it is "God Save the King". "God Save the King" (or
"... Queen") is also the royal anthem (but not the national anthem) of Norway—sung there in
Norwegian. Its use at state events in Great Britain was one of the first examples of a nation
adopting a hymn as a national anthem.

There is no single authorized version of the song; indeed, the anthem has never been

officially adopted by royal proclamation nor act of parliament. In general only one, or on rare
occasions two, verses are usually sung.

History

The origin of the tune is surrounded by uncertainty, myth and speculation. In the Oxford

Companion to Music, Percy Scholes devotes about four pages to this subject. He points out the
similarities to an early plainsong melody, although he points out that the rhythm is very distinctly
that of a galliard and gives examples of several such dance tunes that bear a striking resemblance
to "God Save the King". He quotes a keyboard piece by Dr. John Bull (1619) which has some
strong similarities to the modern tune, depending on the placing of accidentals that at that time
were unwritten in certain cases and left to the discretion of the player; see Musica ficta. He also
points to several pieces by Henry Purcell, one of which includes the opening notes of the modern
tune, set to the words "God save the King".

The first definitive published version of the present tune appeared in 1744 in Thesaurus

Musicus as a setting of the familiar first verse. Undoubtedly, the song was popularized in the
following year (with the landing of Charles Edward Stuart). It was certainly sung in London theatres
in 1745 with, for example, Thomas Arne writing a setting of the tune for the Drury Lane Theatre.

Scholes' analysis includes mention of "untenable" and "doubtful" claims, as well as "an

American misattribution". Some of these are:



A tale, widely believed in France, that the tune ("Grand Dieu Sauve le Roi"), was written by

Jean-Baptiste Lully to celebrate the healing of Louis XIV's fistula. Lully set words by the

Duchess of Brinon to music, and the tune was pirated by Händel. Translated in Latin under

the name "Domine, Salvum fac regem", it became the French anthem until 1792. After the

battle of Culloden, the Hanover dynasty would have adopted this melody as the British

anthem. Scholes points out gross errors of date which render these claims untenable, and

they have been ascribed to a 19th-century forgery, the Souvenirs of the Marquise de

Créquy.

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

James Oswald. He is a possible author of the Thesaurus Musicus so may certainly have

played a part in this story, but is not a strong enough candidate to be cited as the composer

of the tune.



Dr. Henry Carey. Scholes refutes this attribution, firstly, on the grounds that Carey himself

never made such a claim. Secondly, when the claim was made by Carey's son (as late as

in 1795), it was accompanied by a request for a pension from the British Government on

that score. Thirdly, the younger Carey claimed that his father had written parts of it in 1745,

even though the older Carey had died in 1743! It has also been claimed that the work was

first publicly performed by Carey during a dinner in 1740 in honour of Admiral Edward

Vernon, who had captured the Spanish harbour of Porto Bello (then in Colombia, now

Panama) during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

Scholes recommends the attribution "traditional" or "traditional; earliest known version by John

Bull (1562–1628)." The English Hymnal (musical editor Ralph Vaughan Williams) gives no
attribution, stating merely "17th or 18th cent."

Traditionally, the first performance was thought to have been in 1745, when it was sung in

support of George II after the defeat of his army at the Battle of Prestonpans by the Jacobite
claimant to the English and Scottish thrones, Charles Edward Stuart, whose forces were mostly
Scottish. To express this support verse 6 was added, but as its call to crush the rebels now
suggests an anti-Scottish sentiment it is rarely (if ever) sung nowadays. Because of this sixth
verse, the anthem may cause great offence when sung in some parts of Scotland.

Johann Christian Bach composed a set of variations on "God Save the King" for the finale to

his sixth keyboard concerto (Op. 1) written c. 1763.

J

oseph Haydn was impressed by the use of "God Save the King" as a national anthem

during his visit to London in 1794, and on his return to Austria wrote a tune to the national anthem,
the "God Save Emperor Franz" (Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser), for the birthday of the Emperor
Franz of Austria. The tune of "God Save the King" was later adopted for the Prussian national
anthem Heil Dir im Siegerkranz.

Ludwig van Beethoven composed a set of seven piano variations in the key of C major to

the theme of "God Save the King", catalogued as WoO.78 (1802–1803).

Muzio Clementi, another composer who used the theme to "God Save the King", placed

this theme into his 3rd symphony in B major. This work is dubbed the "Great National" and is
catalogued as WoO. 34.

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Use in the Commonwealth

It was formerly used as a national anthem by most of the Commonwealth Realms, including

Australia, Canada, and Jamaica. It was soon replaced by "Advance Australia Fair", "The Maple
Leaf Forever", and "Jamaica, Land We Love" respectively, though it remains those countries' royal
anthem and is played during formal ceremonies involving the Royalty or viceroyalty (Governors-
General, Governors, and Lieutenant-Governors—see Vice Regal Salute); in Canada, "God Save
the Queen" is sometimes sung together with "O Canada" at public events. It continues to be
recognised as the national anthem of New Zealand, together with "God Defend New Zealand",
although it is almost never performed as such.

Use elsewhere

"God Save the King" was the very first song to be used as a national anthem, although

the Netherlands' national anthem, the Wilhelmus, is older. Its success prompted a number of
imitations, notably in France and, later, Germany. Both commissioned their own songs to help
construct a concrete national(ist) identity. The first German national anthem was a copy of "God
save the King" with the words changed to Heil dir im Siegerkranz and sung to the same tune as
the British version. The tune was either used or officially adopted as the national anthem for
several other countries, including those of Russia (until 1833), Sweden, and Switzerland.

It is also the melody to the United States patriotic hymn "Let Freedom Ring" (better known

by its first line, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee"), and was played during the Presidential Inauguration
parade of President George W. Bush on 20 January, 2001. In Iceland it is called Eldgamla Ísafold.
The tune is also used as Norway's Royal anthem entitled Kongesangen. The rock band Queen
plays "God Save the Queen" at the end of all of their concerts.

The tune is still used as the national anthem of Liechtenstein, Oben am jungen Rhein.

When England met Liechtenstein in a Euro 2004 qualifier, the same tune had to be played twice.

The melody of "God Save the King" has been and continues to be used as a hymn tune

by Christian churches in various countries. The United Methodists of the southern United States,
Mexico, and Latin America, among other denominations (usually Protestant), play the same
melody as a hymn. The Christian hymn "Glory to God on High" is frequently sung to the same
tune, as well as an alternate tune that fits both lyrics.

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Other UK anthems

Frequently, when an anthem is needed for one of the component countries of the UK—at an
international sporting event, for instance—an alternate song is used:



Wales has its own recognised anthem in "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau".



England generally uses "God Save the Queen", but has used "Jerusalem" or "Land of
Hope and Glory".



Northern Ireland generally uses "God Save the Queen" at events associated with the
British tradition, and the Irish national anthem "Amhrán na bhFiann" at events associated
with the Irish tradition. Additionally, "Londonderry Air" is a popular cross-community
anthem.



Scotland uses either "Flower of Scotland" or "Scotland the Brave", or traditionally "Scots
Wha Hae"; although the only official anthem is "God Save the Queen".



At international football matches, England and Northern Ireland both use "God Save the
Queen", while Scotland uses "Flower of Scotland", and Wales uses "Hen Wlad Fy
Nhadau". There has been some debate about replacing "God Save the Queen" with "Land
of Hope and Glory" for England matches.



At international rugby league matches, England have used "Land of Hope and Glory" but in
their 2005 internationals, changed to "God Save The Queen". Scotland uses "Flower of
Scotland" and Wales uses "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau". At Great Britain matches, "God Save
the Queen" is played, which recently led to Irish-born Brian Carney bowing his head and
not singing along.



In international rugby union, England uses "God Save the Queen", Scotland "Flower of
Scotland" and Wales "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau". Ireland (a team representing both Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) sing "Ireland's Call", a song which attempts to unite the
two traditions on the island. The song is sung at Ireland's home and away games. At home
games it is also accompanied by the Republic of Ireland's national anthem "A Soldier's
Song".



Recently the British and Irish Lions rugby union tour used the song "The Power of Four" but
this anthem was especially designed for the tour and will likely not be used again, perhaps
because most of the players did not know the anthem. There is of course no collective
anthem for Britain and Ireland, since the Republic of Ireland has been independent from the
United Kingdom since 1922.



"The Song of the Western Men" (otherwise known as "Trelawny") has popularly been
considered to be the Cornish anthem and is sung at Cornish rugby matches and events
such as Saint Piran's day and other Cornish gatherings. However some Cornish
nationalists argue that "Bro Goth Agan Tasow" which is in Cornish rather than English
should be adopted. This is the anthem used by the Gorsedh Kernow for the last 75 plus
years ("The Land of My Fathers", but literally, "Old Country of my Fathers") and has a
similar tune to the Welsh National anthem ("Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau") and the Breton anthem.
"Bro Goth Agan Tasow" is not heard so often as it is sung in Cornish). Those who prefer an
anthem in English also sometimes use "Hail to the Homeland".

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Performance

The style most commonly heard in official performances was proposed as the "proper

interpretation" by King George V, who considered himself something of an expert (in view of the
number of times he had heard it). An Army Order was duly issued, in 1933, which laid down
regulations for tempo, dynamics and orchestration. This included instructions such as that the
opening "six bars will be played quietly by the reed band with horns and basses in a single phrase.
Cornets and side-drum are to be added at the little scale-passage leading into the second half of
the tune, and the full brass enters for the last eight bars". The official tempo for the opening section
is a metronome setting of 60, with the second part played in a broader manner, at a metronome
setting of 52.[1] In recent years the prescribed sombre-paced introduction is often played at a faster
and livelier tempo.

Until the latter part of the 20th century, theatre and concert goers were expected to stand to

attention while the anthem was played after the conclusion of a show. In cinemas this brought a
tendency for audiences to rush out while the end credits played to avoid this formality.

The anthem was traditionally played at closedown on the BBC and with the introduction of

commercial television to the UK this practice was adopted by some ITV regions. BBC Two never
played the anthem at closedown, and ITV dropped the practice in the late 1980s, but it continued
on BBC One until 8 November 1997 (thereafter BBC1 began to simulcast with News 24 after end
of programmes). The tradition is carried on, however, by BBC Radio 4.

The Broadway musical West Side Story (1957) features the Jets (a street gang of Polish-

Americans) whistling the first six bars of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which has the same tune as
"God Save the Queen".

Titanic (1943)

In the Nazi propaganda film Titanic (1943), there is one scene in the first class dining room

(which also has the Grand Staircase in this movie) where first officer von Petersen approaches
band, and in that moment, the band stops playing the tune they're playing, and we see the dining
room from above, and everyone standing up, as the band starts playing "God Save the King". It
was probably done as a device of the film's recurring anti-British and anti-American propaganda.

The rock band Queen recorded an instrumental version of "God Save the Queen" on their

1975 album A Night at the Opera. It was arranged by guitarist Brian May and features his
distinctive layers of overdubbed electric guitars. A tape of this version would be played at the end
of almost every concert, with Freddie Mercury walking around the stage wearing a crown and a
cloak on their Magic Tour in 1986.

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On 3 June 2002, during the Queen's Golden Jubilee, Brian May performed the anthem on

his Red Special electric guitar for Party at the Palace, performing from the roof of Buckingham
Palace.

Lyrics

In the United Kingdom, the first verse is the only verse typically sung, even at official

occasions, although the third is sung in addition on rare occasions.

Since "God Save the Queen" is the Royal Anthem of Canada, the first verse has been

translated into French for use in that country, as shown below. As sung in English in Canada,
"God Save the Queen" has an additional English verse, sung after the first or second verse,
which is also given below. In general use in Canada, however, only the first verse is sung. In New
Zealand, the second more militaristic verse was replaced with the fourth verse, otherwise known as
a "Commonwealth verse". However, that verse is primarily used only when the anthem is played
past the first verse.

1

God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

2

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all.

3

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen 1.

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Although in the original lyrics, verses 4–6 are now generally omitted—partly to reduce the

length of the anthem and partly due to the "rebellious Scots to crush" line in verse six:

4

Not in this land alone,
But be God's mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world o'er.

5

From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O'er her thine arm extend,
For Britain's sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

6

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!

Verse 6 was a reaction to Sir John Cope's defeat by the Jacobites at the Battle of

Prestonpans with a prayer for the success of Wade's army then assembling at Newcastle.

The Jacobite forces bypassed his force and reached Derby, but then retreated and when

their garrison at Carlisle surrendered to a second government army led by King George's son the
Duke of Cumberland another verse was added, according to Fitzroy Maclean:[2] The verse he
quotes appears to have a line missing.

7

George is magnanimous,
Subjects unanimous;
Peace to us bring:
His fame is glorious,
Reign meritorious,
God save the King!

Another verse added during the 1745 Rising and sung at theatres, went as follows:12

8

From France and Pretender
Great Britain defend her,
Foes let them fall;
From foreign slavery,
Priests and their knavery,
And Popish Reverie,
God save us all.

126

In the 19th century, there was some lively debate about the national anthem. Even then,

verse two was considered to be slightly offensive. Notably, the question arose over the phrase
"scatter her (or his) enemies". Some thought it placed better emphasis on the respective power of
Parliament and the Crown to change "her" to "our"; others pointed out that the theology was
somewhat dubious and substituted "thine" instead. In 1836, William Edward Hickson wrote four
alternative verses:

1

God bless our native land!
May heaven's protecting hand
Still guard our shore:
May peace her power extend,
Foe be transformed to friend,
And Britain's rights depend
On war no more.

2

O Lord, our monarch bless
With strength and righteousness:
Long may she reign:
Her heart inspire and move
With wisdom from above;
And in a nation's love
Her throne maintain

3

May just and righteous laws
Uphold the public cause,
And bless our isle:
Home of the brave and free,
Thou land of liberty,
We pray that still on thee
Kind heaven may smile.

4

Nor on this land alone,
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore:
Lord make the nations see
That men should brothers be,
And form one family
The wide world o'er

127

The first, third, and fourth of these verses are appended to the National Anthem in the

English Hymnal. However, only the fourth seems to get even the rarest airing nowadays, often with
the first word erroneously changed to "not". Charles T. Brooks, in 1833, translated a German
Lutheran hymn also starting with the words "God bless our native land". This hymn inspired Rev.
Samuel F. Smith to write the words to the American patriotic song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (also
known as "America"), sung to the same tune, in 1832.

1

God bless our native land!
Firm may she ever stand
Thro' storm and night!
When the wild tempests rave,
Ruler of wind and wave
Do Thou our country save
By Thy great might.

2

For her our prayer shall rise
To God above the skies;
On Him we wait.
Thou who art ever nigh,
Guarding with watchful eye,
To Thee aloud we cry,
God save the State!

To this hymn is often added the fourth of Hickson's verses.

First verse in French, as sung in Canada

Dieu protčge la reine
De sa main souveraine!
Vive la reine!
Qu'un rčgne glorieux,
Long et victorieux
Rende son peuple heureux.
Vive la reine!

Bilingual verse in Canada—often sung on Remembrance Day

Dieu sauve notre reine,

Notre glorieuse reine,
Vive la reine!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God Save the Queen!!