Unit 2

Part 1
Text: Government
The most important feature of the British form of government is that it
is a system of government by discussion and criticism. Naturally the views of
the majority of the people usually prevail, but the minority is never
suppressed, even though a minority may be only a small group.
The Queen’s Ministers form the Executive Government of Britain.
They decide what shall be done and their policy is carried out mainly by the
Civil Service. All their actions are done in the Queen’s name and most of
their great powers were once exercised by the Crown alone. These powers
include the making of Treaties with foreign countries, declaring war and
making peace.
All the Ministers are also in Parliament. There they have to be ready
to face criticism and explain their actions. This link between Government
and Parliament is vitally important. It means that despite its vast power, the
Government is really responsible to the elected representatives of the
ordinary people. The majority of the Members of the House of Commons has
to support the Ministers if the Government is to stay in power.
The Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The most important of the
Queen’s Ministers is the Prime Minister. In his relationship with the other
Ministers he has been described by one well-known authority as being like
the sun among the planets. He is the Queen’s chief adviser and his opinions
shape the whole of Government policy. At the same time he is the leader of
the largest political party in the House of Commons. There is no written law
which states that the Prime Minister must be in the Commons rather than in
the Lords. This is only right. The House of Commons, as the elected body,
should have every opportunity of being in contact with the chief man in the
Government. The official title of the Prime Minister is “Prime Minister and
First Lord of the Treasury”. The Treasury is the department of the
Government which handles the nation’s money and the fact that modern
Premiers combine these two offices is a sign of the great power they hold,
despite the fact that the real work of the Treasury is now performed by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
After a General Election the Queen sends for the leader of the largest
political party and asks him to form a Government. This is a new Prime
Minister’s first task. In addition to this, he has to form a Cabinet consisting

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of the men (and sometimes women) occupying the most important posts in
the Government. The size of a Cabinet has varied at different times but
usually it is under twenty. In normal times the Cabinet meets for about two
hours once or twice a week in the Prime Minister’s house at No. 10 Downing
Street.
Neither is there any rule deciding which Departments of State shall be
represented in the Cabinet. Obviously if a new Prime Minister is wise he will
include in his Cabinet the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign
Secretary (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs since 1968). But some other
posts are not always included in the Cabinet and the Prime Minister will
make up his own mind on this point. The most important feature to notice is
that all the Ministers, whether in the Cabinet or not, owe their appointment to
the Prime Minister. He might appoint some of his supporters to Ministerial
posts and later on decide to dismiss them or transfer them to another
Department. This is another sign of his great power. You should notice,
however, that before making his appointments the Prime Minister takes a list
to the Queen and seeks her approval. Her Majesty may make suggestions.
The Prime Minister must also take a close interest in how the other Ministers
manage their departments and he must always be ready to offer advice.
The Prime Minister can advice the Queen to dissolve Parliament. This
is a matter on which the Sovereign will accept advice from no one else
except the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister acts as Chairman and guides the discussion.
Before the meeting he draws up the agenda and probably asks the Ministers
to be prepared to make statements about their Departments. The Cabinet
decides the great questions of Government policy and therefore it does not
deal with questions which can be solved satisfactorily at a lower level.
Questions of less importance are discussed at Committees of the Cabinet.
The number of Committees varies with the Government in power at the time.
Most Cabinets, however, have a Committee dealing with legislation. Usually
such a Committee decides the programme of Government Bills to be
introduced in Parliament during the session and at the same time supervises
the structure of Bills.
The Ministry. All the Ministers may be classified in the following
way.
The Departmental Ministers. These are important Ministers who are
at the head of great Departments of State. The heads of some of the
Departments are known as Secretaries of State and they deal with Home
Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Scotland, Commonwealth Relations, etc. The other
heads of Departments are called Ministers.

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 Non-Departmental Ministers. These Ministers have old traditional
titles which do not really tell you the nature of the work they do. The Prime
Minister chooses these men for special responsibilities. These special duties
vary from time to time.
The Ministers of State are Deputy Ministers in Departments where
the work is particularly heavy. At present there are five Ministers of State in
four Departments.
The Junior Ministers. Very often the Junior Ministers are younger
men. A Junior Minister relieves the Minister of some of his burdens by
taking part in Parliamentary debates and he often answers Parliamentary
Questions. The official title of a Junior Minister is Parliamentary Secretary.
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home
Secretary). He is in charge of one of the busiest departments in the
Government. He is responsible for maintaining law and order and therefore
he takes a keen interest in the efficiency of the police forces throughout the
country. He is in charge of the prisons, the organization of the Magistrates’
Courts, etc.
The Lord Chancellor. He is the Speaker of the House of Lords and
he is at the head of Judges. In addition to this he is in charge of more than
twenty different offices which are mainly concerned with legal practice.
The Minister of Defence. Today this Minister has very wide powers
indeed because all the traditional methods of defence are being changed to
suit the new atomic age in which we are now living. He co-ordinates the
work of three departments, which are in effect subordinate to him, the
Admiralty (i.e. the Navy), War (the Army), and Air (the Air Force).
The President of the Board of Trade. The Presedent is generally
responsible for Britain’s commerce, industry and oversea trade.
The Minister of Labour and National Service. Amongs many other
duties, this Minister is concerned with the provision of employment and
helping employers to find suitable employees.
The Minister of Power. This post has been created quite recently.
“Power” refers to the provision of coal, gas, electricity and atomic power for
generating electricity. The Minister also acts for the Government in its
dealings with the petroleum industry.
The Law Officers. The Law Officers are the Government’s legal
advisers and they appear in court on behalf of the Government in important
cases.
All the Ministers have to act as members of a team rather than as
isolated individuals. Each Minister must share full responsibility for the work
of his colleagues in other departments and he must be prepared to support the

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Government on all issues even though they do not directly concern the work
he is doing.
But there is another form of Ministerial responsibility: all Ministers
are responsible to Parliament. This is probably the most important feature of
the British form of Government.

Task 1. Phonetic Exercise.

Practice after the teacher to pronounce the words given below.
prevail [prǹɎveǹl] committee [kǨɎmǹtǹ:]
authority [ǣ: Ɏƍǣrǹtǹ] magistrate [Ɏmæȳǹstreǹt]
executive [ǹgɎzekȬutǹv] the Admiralty [ɎædmǨrǨltǹ]
the Treasury [ɎtrǨȡǨrǹ] commerce [ɎkǣmǨ(:)s]
agenda [ǨɎȳendǨ] colleague [Ɏkǣlǹ:g]
the Chancellor of the Exchequer [ɎtȒa:nsǨlǨǨvɎðǹǹksɎtȒekǨ]

Task 2. Lexical Exercises.

Exercise 1. Read the international words and guess their meaning.
Mind the stress.
`form `ordinary `fact `normal
`system `planet `office de`partment
`criticism `leader `secretary `junior
`service o`fficial `post `interest

Exercise 2. Match the English words and word-combinations

given below with their Russian equivalents.
1) ɝɨɫɭɞɚɪɫɬɜɟɧɧɚɹ ɫɥɭɠɛɚ a) Admiralty
2) ɤɨɪɨɥɟɜɫɤɚɹ ɜɥɚɫɬɶ b) the Minister of Labour and
National Service
3) ɡɚɤɥɸɱɟɧɢɟ ɞɨɝɨɜɨɪɨɜ, ɨɛɴɹɜɥɟɧɢɟ c) the Minister of State
ɜɨɣɧɵ, ɡɚɤɥɸɱɟɧɢɟ ɦɢɪɚ
4) ɠɢɡɧɟɧɧɨ ɜɚɠɧɵɣ d) the Chancellor of the Exchequer
5) ɢɡɛɪɚɧɧɵɣ ɨɪɝɚɧ e) legislation
6) Ʉɚɡɧɚɱɟɣɫɬɜɨ f) Foreign Secretary
7) Ʉɚɧɰɥɟɪ ɤɚɡɧɚɱɟɣɫɬɜɚ g) Home Secretary
8) ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ ɢɧɨɫɬɪɚɧɧɵɯ ɞɟɥ h) the Board of Trade
9) ɤɨɦɢɫɫɢɢ i) magistrates’ court
10) ɡɚɤɨɧɨɞɚɬɟɥɶɫɬɜɨ j) Junior Minister
11) ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ ɜɧɭɬɪɟɧɧɢɯ ɞɟɥ k) the Minister of Defence
12) ɝɨɫɭɞɚɪɫɬɜɟɧɧɵɣ ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ l) Law Officers’ Department
13) ɡɚɦɟɫɬɢɬɟɥɶ ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪɚ m) the Lord Chancellor

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14) ɦɥɚɞɲɢɣ ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ n) vitally important
15) ɩɚɪɥɚɦɟɧɬɫɤɢɣ ɫɟɤɪɟɬɚɪɶ o) Deputy Minister
16) ɫɭɞ ɦɚɝɢɫɬɪɚɬɨɜ p) Parliamentary Secretary
17) ɥɨɪɞ-ɤɚɧɰɥɟɪ q) committees
18) ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ ɨɛɨɪɨɧɵ r) making treaties,
declaring wars, making peace
19) Ⱥɞɦɢɪɚɥɬɟɣɫɬɜɨ s) the Treasury
20) ɦɢɧɢɫɬɟɪɫɬɜɨ ɬɨɪɝɨɜɥɢ t) Civil Service
21) ɦɢɧɢɫɬɟɪɫɬɜɨ ɬɪɭɞɚ ɢ u) the Minister of Power
ɝɨɫɭɞɚɪɫɬɜɟɧɧɨɣ ɫɥɭɠɛɵ
22) ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ ɷɧɟɪɝɟɬɢɤɢ v) elected body
23) ɘɪɢɞɢɱɟɫɤɢɣ ɫɨɜɟɬ w) the Crown

Exercise 3. Choose the right word or word-combination.

1. The Queen’s Ministers form the Executive … of Britain.
a) Cabinet b) Government c) Parliament
2. The Cabinet is restricted to about … members.
a) twenty b) thirty c) ten
3. The Prime Minister is the head of …
a) the House of Commons b) the Government c) Parliament
4. All the Ministers owe their appointment to …
a) the Prime Minister b) the Queen c) the Government
5. The Prime Minister can advise the Queen to dissolve …
a) the Government b) the Cabinet c) Parliament
6. The Ministers of State are …
a) the Departmental Ministers b) Deputy Ministers c) the Junior
Ministers

Exercise 4. Fill in the blanks with the following words.

MP, seat, traditions, wool, symbol, stuffed, space, members, Lords.

There are many ______ associated with both chambers of the Houses
of Parliament. The Woolsack, for instance, is a sort of stool stuffed with
________, originally placed in Parliament in Edward III’s reign as a
________ of the basis of England’s prosperity at that time. Nowadays, it is
the _______ of the Lord Chancellor, as Speaker of the House of ________,
and is significantly ________ with a blend of wool from the colonies and
dominions.
There is a place between the two sides of the Houses. In the House of
Commons this _______ is approximately the width of two drawn swords.

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Formerly, the MPs, when very heated, sometimes drew swords and a fight
began. Therefore, a ruler was imposed prohibiting ________ to cross the
space. Today any _______ who puts a foot forward is “called to order”
immediately by the Speaker and he has to apologise to the House.

Exercise 5. Answer the questions on the text.

1. Who forms the Executive Government?
2. Who is the most important of the Queen’s Ministers?
3. What is a new Prime Minister’s first task?
4. How many members are there in the Cabinet?
5. Where does the Cabinet meet?
6. Who decides the great questions of Government policy?
7. Who are at the head of the great Departments of State?
8. Who is at the head of Judges?
9. What is probably the most important feature of the British form of
government?

Task 3. Grammar Rules and Exercises.

ȼɪɟɦɟɧɚ ɝɪɭɩɩɵ Perfect.

to have (has, had, will have) + Participle II
Present Past Future
Affirmative I I I shall have written
We have written We We
You You
They They had written You
He They
He She He will have written
She has written It She
It It
Negative I I I shall not (shan’t)
We have not (haven’t) We We have written
You written You had not (hadn’t)
They They written You
He They will not (won’t)
He She He have written
She has not (hasn’t) It She
It written It
Interrogative I I Shall I have written?
Have we written? we we
you you you
they Had they written? they
he Will he have written?
he she she
Has she written? it it
it

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