Political system in the UK

Attitudes towards piliticians

People in England are cynical and suspicious about politicians because of the
endless scandals in the tabloids. They expect them to be dishonest but not down
right fraudulent. People are generally quite ignorant of who politicians are, they do
not know many names of MP's or government members. Politics is regarded as a
boring topic of conversation and seen as a necessary evil. Also politicians should
not get too many big ideas about themselves.

Politicians do not have a good reputation with the British people, but it is not that they
hate their politicians, they just regard them with suspicion. People are not really
shocked when the government is caught lying. On the other hand, they would be very
shocked if it was discovered that the government was doing anything definitely illegal.

The British lack enthusiasm for politics because government have never been
extreme, so the feeling of confidence in the stability and workability of the systems
remains.

In the past, though, everything was different. It was a maxim that nobody should
mention politics or religion in polite conversation. If anybody did, there was a danger
that the conversation would become too heated and that people would become
violent.

Politicians never say they are keen to do their jobs because they look ad though they
were eager for power.

In connection with the Law, they do not have much respect for the institutions of the
law, but they deeply respect the principal of law. (there is not much tax evasion like in
other countries) However they do not like making new laws; wherever possible it's
best to do without them. The country has comparatively few rules and regulations.

Rules and laws are taken seriously, the traditional feeling is to have laws where
necessary but to do without where possible. For example, British don’t need to carry
their identification or drivers’ license when they are out in public. This happens
because the government know all your information, believe it or not.

The British don’t like making new laws and the country has few rules and regulations.
There are comparatively few rules telling the individual what he or she must or must
not do, and so there are comparatively few rules telling the government what it can or
cannot do.
Voting is not compulsary in Britain. The traditional assumption is that people and state
should leave eachother alone and so the only duties of the individual towards the
state are: don't break the law and pay your taxes.

Democracy is seen as a system in which the government is chosen by the people but
then this government gets a relatively free hand in running the country. Governing and
law making is not done by the people and a refendum is seldom held.

In the UK, there is no constitution. There is no single written document which can be
appealed to as the highest law of the land. Instead the principles and procedures by
which the country is governed and from which peoples rights are derived come from a
number of different sources which have been built up over the centuries. Some are
written down in laws and some are not. Some have been formally agreed by
Parliament, some have been spoken and then written down (judgements made in
court) and some have never been written down at all.

Britain does not have a written constitution. There are of course rules, regulations,
principles and procedures but they are not written down. They come from a number of
sources and have been built up, bit by bit, over the centuries.

Some rights which are commonly accepted in modern democracies (the rights not to
be discriminated against on the basis of sex or race) have been formally agreed by
Parliament in certain laws; but others (the rights not to be discriminated against on
the basis of religion or political views) have not.

Britain is a constitutional monarchy = a country governed by a king or queen who

accepts the advice of a parliament.

Britain is a parliamentary democracy = a country whose government is controlled by a

parliament elected by the people.

The highest positions in the government are filled by memebers of the directly elected
parliament. The official head of state (the queen) has little real power.

The shadow cabinet is the 'opposition' of the party that controles the government. It is
actually the party that does not control the government, which is presenting itself as
an alternative government. This system has received legal recognition and the leader
of this party receives the title: 'Leader of Her Majesty's opposition. He or she chooses
a shadow cabinet, thereby presenting the image of a team ready to take over from the
government.

A cabinet formed by the leader of the opposition to fill the positions if the current
cabinet fails
There are two parties formed inside the parliament: the Conservatives and the Liberal
Democrats.

There is a big party formed outside the parliament: the Labour Party.

There are three main consequences of the party system:

1. It is difficult for smaller parties to challenge the dominant parties, ideas are usually
adopted by a bigger party.

2. parties have not extended into everyday public life.

3. Usually a party's MPs who have most control over party policy.

Two developments have changed the traditional confidence in the British Political
System:

1. The perceived style of politics has changed from emphasis on substance to

emphasis on presentation in the media (advised by spin doctors)
2. the traditional right of the individual to freedom from interference from the
state is being eroded. (by for instance CCTV camera's everywhere and the
development of a national DNA base and by the increased powers of the
authorities to search people and their homes and to detain them without
charging them.

A spin doctor is the public relations advisor of politicians who help the politician
present himself as good as possible.

The general business of the anual party conference is about morale boosting in the
party. They do not want to be seen having furious arguments in public. The only
disagreement they show comes from a tradition called Heckling which is the
shouted interruption of a speaker. It livens up boring speeches and is also seen as
a measure of a politicians ability to deal with such interruptions