Boris

Johnson
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Index

❖ British political system

❖ Boris Johnson
❖ Political career
❖ Similarities
❖ Differences
British Political System

❖ Constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy.

❖ Country’s head of state → Reigning king or queen
❖ Head of government → Prime minister (leader of the majority political party in the House of
Commons.)
❖ Main elements of the government (the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary.)
Boris Johnson
❖ June 19, 1964 [New York City, New York]
❖ 58 y/o
❖ United Kingdom mayor (2008-2016), London, secretary of state for foreign affairs (2016–18) and Prime minister (2019-2022)
❖ Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson
❖ Journalist and Conservative Party politician.
❖ Lived in New York City, London, and Brussels
❖ Attended boarding school in England.
❖ Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford (president of the Oxford Union)
❖ The Times in 1987 (fabricating a quotations), The Daily Telegraph, covered the European Community (1989–94) and assistant
editor (1994–99).
❖ 1994 → political columnist → The Spectator
❖ 1999 → magazine’s editor until 2005.
Political career (pt.1)
❖ 1997 → Conservative candidate for Clwyd South in the House of Commons → Lost decisively to the
Labour Party incumbent Martyn Jones.
❖ 1998 → BBC talk program “Have I Got News for You”.
❖ 2001 → Stood for Parliament → wins in the Henley-on-Thames constituency.
❖ 2004 → Dismissed from his position as shadow arts minister ( rumoured affair)
❖ 2005 → Re-elected to his parliamentary seat
❖ 2007 → London mayoral election challenging Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone.
❖ May 1, 2008 → Won a narrow victory → repudiation of the national Labour government led by Gordon
Brown.
❖ 2012 → Reelected mayor, besting Livingstone again.
❖ 2015 → Returned to Parliament → won the west London seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Political career (pt.2)
❖ 2016 → Leading spokesman for the “Leave” campaign.
❖ April 2018 →Defended decision to join the United States and France in strategic air strikes against the
regime of Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad.
❖ July 24 → Officially became prime minister.
❖ July 2022 → After breaking lockdown rules, he resigned as prime minister
Spain vs UK: Similarities
● They're both parliamentary monarchies where the monarchs play a symbolic role but don’t hold legal power .
● Both systems have accumulated power through secondary legislation that doesn't needto be approved by Parliament
.
● The head of government has the ability to dissolve Parliament and call on elections .
● Members of the Parliament are elected through universal suffrage of those over 18 years of age.
● Executive Parliament and Judiciary are separate and reasonably well defined.
● Both heads of state (prime minister and president) must command a majority in the lower chambers (House of
Commons and Congreso de los Diputados ) in order to be elected.
● Legislative branches are bicameral ; in Spain the second chamber is the Senate , also chosen through universal
suffrage , whereas in the UK the second chamber it is the House of Lords with mixed composition ( hereditary peers
and those elected by the government ) .
Spain vs UK: Differences
● The UK does not have a written Constitution, unlike Spain .
● While Spain has a Constitutional Court appointed by Parliament , in order to make sure that nothing goes against the
Constitution , the UK does not have similar body as there is not a " Supreme Law " other than that passed by
Parliament .
● The UK's actions can be challenged through a process called Judicial Review, unlike in Spain where there's a need for
a high degree of political influence in bodies like the Supreme Court.
● In the UK the judicial power is fully independent as judges are appointed by the Judicial Appointment Commission
without government intervention unlike in Spain.
● Both in the UK and in Spain civil workers are chosen through competitive processes but in Spain managing directors
of public departments or higher ranks are changed with every government shift . As for the UK , there is more
permanence in the position .
Thank you.
❖ Encyclopædia Britannica. (n.d.). United Kingdom. Britannica School. Retrieved
September 8, 2022, from
https://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/article/United-Kingdom/110750
❖ Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2022, July 7). Boris Johnson. Encyclopedia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Johnson
❖ Boris Johnson Biography |. (2022, January 31). Biography Online. Retrieved September
8, 2022, from https://www.biographyonline.net/politicians/uk/boris-johnson.html
❖ Amos, B. O. (2022, July 7). Boris Johnson resigns: Five things that led to the PM’s
downfall. BBC News. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62070422.amp