Politics in Britain

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Politics in Britain

• The political system

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United Kingdom

• Basic Characteristics
• Approx. 63 million people
• Comprised of England, Scotland, Wales and
  Northern Ireland
• System of Government
• Constitutional monarchy
• Parliamentary system
• First Past the Post Electoral System
• Unitary state

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Unwritten constitution

• Lack of a written constitution

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Parliamentary system

• Parliament selects the prime minister
• prime minister is not elected by popular vote
• normally the head of majority party or coalition
• Cabinet responsibility to parliament
• major legislation and votes of confidence

Parliament
Majority party
Prime minister cabinet
voters
Minority party
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British government

• Constitutional Monarchy
• Monarch (Queen Elizabeth II)
• is the Head of State
• Whitehall Street
• executive agencies / Cabinet
• (e.g.Department of Defence)
• 10 Downing Street
• prime ministers residence
• Westminster Bicameral
• House of Commons
• House of Lords

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Electoral system

• Single-member district
• First-past-the-post (winner-take-all) system

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Election results
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Parliament

• The House of Commons
• 650 members (Fixed Number)
• voting is 100 along party lines in most votes
• party loyalty versus constituency interests
  continues to be a major concern
• the House of Lords
• 792 members (not fixed
• number)
• Lords Temporal
• And Lords Spiritual
• Not elected

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Margaret Thatcher

• Served (1979 - 1990) longer without interruption
  than any other British prime minister in 20th
  century

• cut taxes
• reduced social services
• stimulated the private sector (privatization of
  public services)
• The Right to buy scheme
• Increased military spending

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John Major

• Prime Minister of Great Britain (1990-97)
• Joined the United States in the Gulf War (1990)
  against Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
• Continued the privatization policies of Margaret
  Thatcher (e.g. privatization of British Rail)

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New Labour Party

• Tony Blair (1997-2007)
• Rebranded the Labour Party with new labour
• Movement to the political centre (Brokerage
  politics)
• the largest majority in parliament (419/659) that
  the Labour Party has ever held in 1997
• Conservative vote fell to its lowest share since
  1832 in 1997
• Tony Blair New Labour is a party of ideas and
  ideals, but not of outdated ideology. What
  counts is what works.

Pragmatic Politician Brokerage Politics
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Tony Blair Third Way

• Third way alternative to big government
  policies of the old Labour Party (socialism) and
  Thatcherism (free market economics)
• rejected the historic ties between Labour
  governments and the trade union movement
• A vague philosophy to draw support from across
  the social-economic spectrum.
• Transcended ideologies (brokerage)

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Gordon Brown

• Labour Prime Minister (2007-2010)
• Nationalized some banks after the 2007 stock
  market crashed (e.g. Northern Rock)
• A continuation of New Labour policies with
  respect to the role of government in an economy

Hes smiling!
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David Cameron

• Prime Minister (2010-Present)
• Member of the Conservative Party
• Responsible for Austerity Measures drastic cuts
  to the public service layoffs and reducing wages
  of public employees
• Britains involvement in the war in Libya
  (removal of Muammar Gaddifi)