English Department

Prof. El Hachemi Serraj

Introduction to cultural studies
Semester: 4
Croups: 3-4

The political system in Great Britain

This lecture sheds light on the political system in Great Britain. It tends to
supply students with a simplified version of the British political life. The Fourth
semester students will have an overview on the composition of the hierarchy of the
British political system comprised of the Monarch as the top of the pyramid, the
Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the Government with the two houses: the House of
Commons, the House of Lords, and the Constitution.

I. The Monarchy in Britain.

By the ‘Monarch’, I mean the king or the Queen of Britain. As we have seen
in the British history, The Monarch before 1215 possessed the total power over the
country. He ruled the country and the people as he wanted namely if he was in good
terms with the church. Yet, by 1215, under the rule of King John, The Magna Charta
or ‘great charter’ came into existence and decreased the power of the Monarch. The
Stuarts violated this Charter and abused in exercising their power which resulted in a
tragedy culminating by the execution of Charles I and the introduction of the
Commonwealth in Britain. Later in 1688-89, the British organized a non bloody
revolution and called Queen Anne and William from Holland but with conditions and
less power than before. Queen Victoria’s era was an exceptional case since she was a
brave queen. On the basis of the recommendations of 1689, the hereditary Monarch
should be protestant and should make laws, impose taxes or spend public money only
with the consent of Parliament. Nowadays, the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, reigns
but doesn’t rule. She is the Head of the State, the Head of the Church of England and
the Head of Armed Forces. The State is commonly known as ‘The Crown’ and the
Queen is its embodiment: all Ministers and officers of the central government
represent her body. As a constitutional Monarch, she works in duality with
Parliament. She appoints the Prime Minister; the leader of the party with a majority in
the House of Commons. She works with a privacy council that advises her as well.

II. The Government and the Prime Minister.

The British Government is her Majesty’s government. By conventions and historical

traditions, the Prime Minister or Chief Minister, is a member of the House of
Commons. With the support of this house whose members are elected, the
Government is formed in Britain. The Prime Minister selects the other ministers with
the Queen’s approval to make up the Government. These Ministers are, equally,
political heads of the departments in the country. They are either members in
Parliament or Peers in the House of Lords. In Britain, the effective power belongs to
the Government; the British means to establish Democracy.

III. Parliament.
Parliament in Britain represents the higher legislative body and has the whole
power over politics in the United Kingdom and overseas. It came into existence in the
13th century by the great Charter and in 1707; it was united with the parliament of
Scotland and became the parliament of Great Britain after this historical political
union of Scotland and England. It consists of the ‘House of Commons’ and the
‘House of Lords’. The duration of its function is five years. Before 2012, the
ceremony of the first meeting of parliament took place in November or December.
Yet from 2012 onwards, it takes place in May or June where the Monarch, Queen
Elizabeth II, reads her speech known as ‘Speech from the Throne’ prepared by the
Prime Minister and the Cabinet. In this speech, her Majesty gives the headlines of the
Government’s agenda for the coming year with the intention to seek the agreement
and the approval of both houses about her speech and the map of the way of her
government. This reveals the paramount role of parliament as an effective elected
power which determines and controls all the actions of the executive government.
Parliament’s structure is established on two houses: the House of Commons and the
House of Lords, known as the lower house and the upper house. Though it is called
the lower house, the House of Commons, has a great importance in parliament and in
UK. Government for its nature as an elected body constituted of 650 members: MPS.
that is to say; members of parliament. Each member represents a constituency of the
Kingdom. Its creation goes back to the 13th and 14th centuries when the Monarch
called representative from each shire to come and listen to his discussions with his
Ministers. And in the 19th century, it underwent a very crucial reform namely by the
passing of the famous reform Bill of 1832.This Act , known as the Great Reform Act,
introduced very noticeable changes in England and Wales. It corrected many abuses
that used to be practiced in the choice of members in the Commons House. Thanks to
public pressure that it was passed to amend the representation of people in England
and Wales. By this time, it officially became: the House of Commons; the basis of the
government with its prime Minister.
The House of Lords or the ‘upper chamber’ of parliament is an appointed advisory
body and the highest court in the land. Its role is the reviewing of bills and legislations
and their amending. Though it has the right to delay them for refinement by urging the
‘Commons’ to reconsider them it never stops them from passing. Its 788 members
have the right either to be government ministers or cabinet ministers. They are
appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister or by the House of Lords
appointments commission. These members are Lords Temporal, hereditary Peers and
life Peers; and the Lords spiritual, the bishops of the Church of England. The largest
group are the hereditary peers, that is men (and few women who are peeresses in their
own right) who possess hereditary titles. These people are the royal Dukes, members
of the royal family; they rarely participate in debates. The members of the House of
Lords are not elected by common people as the members of the House of Commons
which means that they do not represent constituencies, they represent nobody but
themselves. Debates about the retention of the House of Lord were recurrently held
since its members represent only themselves. Yet democracy imposes them in Britain
for reasons; first they safeguard the constitution and second they put a balance in
parliament for the prime minister. The commons could, if they were so inclined,
change the whole political system of Britain by a single majority vote.
III. The cabinet.
 The cabinet is the body in charge of discussing and deciding Government policy
and therefore it is deemed to be the heart of the Government system. The Prime
Minister is its president responsible for directing the course of its meetings. The
Cabinet consists of the leading ministers of the Crown and its membership is decided
by the Prime Minister. Its members are usually around twenty members (20) and
sometimes less than this. Every week, meetings are held in the Cabinet Room at 10
Downing Street, though in an emergency, these meetings can be held anywhere.
Discussion is free and no vote is taken in these meetings. There should be a certain
agreement among all the ministers about the executive decisions and if any minister
feels that he cannot accept a particular decision, he has no choice but to resign. Most
ministers in the Cabinet are Heads of the departments.

IV. The Constitution.

Throughout the world, most of the nations govern their peoples through a written
constitution which, from time to time, needs changes and amendments. To apply these
constitutional changes it requires the approval of the people in the form of a
referendum. In other countries, such legislation can only be passed if the
representative chamber approves the measures by a large enough majority, usually in
the order of two-thirds. Surprisingly, in Britain, it seems very strange that the country
has no written Constitution. In 2008, the Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw
defined the British constitution and said; ‘The Constitution of the United Kingdom
exists in hearts and minds and habits as much as it does in law’. This means that
Britain has just what is known as an ‘uncodified constitution’ comprising a set of
rules and regulations constituted by historic English law since its founding document
is generally considered to be the Magna Carta, or Great Charter of the Liberties of
England. In 1215, the Barons forced the king John to sign it. Besides, the Glorious
Revolution of 1688-89 gave power to the elected Parliament to control the executive
Government. The spirit of this document has impacted the evolution of the English
law over the centuries up till now. This situation makes of Democracy in Britain a
unique phenomenon based on Acts of parliament, historical documents, court
judgments, legal precedence and convention.
Conclusion: This is in brief a general outlook on the British political system and
its functions from the Monarchy to the Constitution. I have skipped many details and
events in this lecture to avoid difficulties and complications. All that is essential to me
is that my students of the English department should have a general idea about the
British civilization, a civilization prevalent in the whole modern world.