Political System of the United Kingdom

• Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminister in London

(also known as the Houses of Parliament)

• The head of the state is the Queen (she opens and closes Parliament.
• In the UK there is a constitutional monarchy (?)
monarch shares power with a constitutionally organized
government
The monarch may be the de-facto head of state or a purely
ceremonial leader
The constitution allocates the rest of the government’s power
to the legislature and judiciary
 Political System of the United Kingdom

• Parliament
The Q ueen

H o u s e o f L o rd s T h e H o u se o f C o m m o ns

•Members are not elected, they •MPs are elected by the

inherit their seats from their British public
fathers •The House of Commons has
•Members are called life peers 651 seats
•The chairman is called
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlbVv
TC6Jw speaker
 The Government: The Prime Minister
• Position of British Prime Minister (PM) is in direct
contrast to that of the monarch:
 Queen appears to have lots of power but in
reality has very little
 PM appears not to have much power but
has a great deal
• Monarch’s power of patronage –actually PM’s power
• Dominance over other ministers – public image
• All ministers except PM have departments to look
after – mostly only PM knows most and makes
decisions
The Royal Family

The House of Windsor

 The House of Windsor

• Windsor is the family

name of the British royal
family
• Queen Elizabeth is only
the fourth monarch with
this name
• George V, Elizabeth’s
grandfather, changed
family name from Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha
Do you know the members of the Royal
Family?
The House of Windsor
 Prince Philip Mountbatton

• Married queen Elizabeth II in 1947

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0hGBlbbXiU
 Role of the monarch
• Position of the monarch in Britain illustrates the
contradictory nature of the constitution
• According to written law only, queen has almost
absolute power
• According to law, she can choose anybody she
likes to run the government for her, it seems
she can choose and dismiss ministers 
officially speaking, they are all servants of the
Crown
 Role of the monarch
• In practice, reality is very different
• In fact, she cannot just choose anyone to be Prime
Minister  has to choose someone who will
command majority support of house of Commons
• Similarly, it is the Prime Minister who decides –
“advises” who the government ministers will be
• In reality – monarch has almost no power at all
 Role of the monarch
• What is then the role of the monarch?
I. Personal embodiment of the government of the
country  because of clear separation between
symbol of government and the actual government,
change does not affect stability (?)
II. Supposedly, it is a possible final check on
governnment
III. Practical role: Queen Elizabeth can perform
ceremonial duties that heads of state don’t have to
spend their time on (?)
 The Value of the monarchy
• However, these advantages are hypothetical
• Real importance probably has to more with
social psychology and economics (?)
•  gives people symbol of continuity,
•  harmless outlet of national pride
• Ceremonial events make up for troubles in
people’s lifes
• Glamorous lives are source of entertainment