First things first

1
First things firstWe need to master the
institutional terms first so that we can discuss
all things British with sincerity and
silver-tongued ease
2
Homework

• Research the Labour and Conservative parties and
  prepare a simple ONE-PAGER that has information
  on BOTH. One side of one page (half a page each)
• Who are the leaders?
• What are the traditional ideological leanings?
• What are some current policy issues?
• How has Gordon Brown distinguished himself thus
  far (if at all)?

3
Westminster?
4
Whitehall?
5
MP?
OR
Master P?
Member of Parliament
6
PM?
OR
The afternoon?
Prime Minister?
7
Whip!

• Ensures party loyalty in voting

8
DIVISION
A vote
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By-Election

• When an MP dies or retires and the spot is filled
  by election good barometer (as Roskin likes to
  say) for judging the strength/acceptance/temporary
  highlow of the majority party

10
Backbencher

• Ordinary MP not in the PMs cabinet or in the
  minority partys shadow cabinet, which
  represents Her Majestys Loyal Opposition
• Non-cabinet members for the minority party are
  called crossbenchers

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Two-Plusser

• A two-plus party system, which is.

• 2 big parties and several small ones

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OK on to the tricky stuff!
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To consider

• The United Kingdom is a nation steeped in
  tradition, confronting a rapidly modernizing
  political world
• One hand in the teapot, and one in the wind of
  change B.A. Kors
• A question to keep in mind
• As the UK moves into the future, should it
  reconsider its system of government? The past
  few years have seen many transitions and
  subsequent suggestions

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Also to keep in mind.

• How democratic is the UK?
• In what ways might certain changes make it more
  (or less, perhaps) democratic?
• Hints
• Lords
• Devolution
• PR

15
Fundamental stuff, Part 1

• UK has a unitary system
• What does this mean?
• What does Roskin call this?

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Commons Giveth, Commons Taketh Away

• The misleading idea of Devolution
• Anyone know what devolution means?
• Devolving (handing down) power to regional
  assemblies.
• This has the markings of federalism, but the
  power is not protected. What do I mean by that?
• (ie Constitutionally)
• AnAnyone

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But! It also separates the Head of State and the
Head of Govt
Elizabeth II
Gordo Marron
Consider Sir Walter Bagehots notion of
Dignified vs. Efficient --- My notion of
useless vs. doing stuff
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The Cabinet

• MPs of Majority Party, mostly from House of
  Commons, some Lords
• Cabinet and PM are accountable in the court of
  public opinion for much of what goes on in
  British politics
• Senior ministers assorted bigshots
• Most cabinet members start as ordinary MPs, then
  get promoted to junior ministers, and finally
  cabinet ministers.
• Usually meet weekly, ostensibly with PM

The word government when used in British
political culture generally refers to the Cabinet
and PM in power. Not unlike the use of which
word in American politics?
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Cabinet Ministries

• Duties
• Treasury
• Judiciary
• Home development
• Environment
• Health
• Northern Ireland
• Wales
• Scotland
• Defense
• Etc etc etc

• About 100 MPs serve in some ministerial capacity
  in the executive branch
• This is considered prestigious and so people
  jockey for these positions, which ensures party
  loyalty, brownnosing, what have you

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PM is perfect example of the Fusion of Powers

• PM is a Diplomat (a classic executive function)
  and a legislator (a classicwait for itah!
  legislative function)
• He/she emerges from the legislature, and performs
  as an executive

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Whips, Divisions, and Party Loyalty

• Party loyalty is critical to government in the
  UK
• Whips make sure that MPs turn out for divisions
  and ensure that they are yes-men, yeasayers
  etc.
• Those who do not take the whip aka fall in line
  (or is there a secret rite of passage??) risk
  losing their nomination from the party for
  re-election. In essence, BULLYING!
• The general election is essentially the sole
  check on a PMs dictatorial ambitions. Lets muse
  for a moment on the lack of British dictators in
  recent memory and try to figure it out? What
  gives rise to dictators? Is it merely the
  presence of the appropriate reins of power?

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First things firstand homework

• First things first
• May I have your
• Timelines
• Visual ideas from the other night
• Research from last night
• Homework
• Read/re-read to the end of the chapter, and be
  sure you have good notes and ANY QUESTIONS
  written for MONDAY
• Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we are going to
• GO NUTS. Over Thanksgiving break you will be
  reading short articles and putting together
  review packets, which we will use to guide our
  discussions of the rest of the UK chapter
• -- OBVIOUSLY, we are going to push the test back
  from the 4th of December at least 3-4 days. The
  EU unit is VERY flexible, and provides wiggle
  room for the other units
• -- The Panel Discussion will NOT be on Monday

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Some Reasons

• The UK is diverse politically, especially WITHIN
  its existing parties. SO, a PM who expects to
  please the masses will have a cabinet that
  encompasses the political diversity.
• Because of all of the inter-party political
  diversity, legislation is often moderate and
  gradual, because it is too difficult to pass
  strongly-worded, heavily partisan ideas
• The Labour Party actually asked Tony Blair to
  step down for fear of losing majority (what was
  the divisive issue in this case?)

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The Power of Elections

• Again, it would seem that the deck is stacked in
  favor of the PM, as they can call elections
  whenever they want (like, for example, when
  things are AWESOME and they are getting credit
  for it), BUT, elections have to happen every 5
  years (the length of a term of Parliament), and
  so it is easy in that time to either
• Make the public dissatisfied with the whole party
• Cause serious dissent within your ranks
• Which can result in backbencher revolt! What is
  that?
• Backbenchers cross the aisle This can be very
  influential, much like the Presidential veto in
  the US. The mere threat can make changes. At the
  same time, this is tempered by the tradition of
  party loyalty. Tradition, as we know, is a
  powerful thing!

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The Changing Scope of the PM

• The Decline of Legislatures
• The influence and power of the cabinet has
  weakened over the years, especially during Tony
  Blairs terms. What might account for some of
  this?

• The move towards Presidential PMs
• TV election madness
• - A sense of elected duty
• Voter centrism

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The House of Commons

• Between the parties one sees and hears great
  rhetoric, marvelous speeches, lots of red meat
  and savory owning,
• Within the parties, lots of thuggish support, but
  not a lot of individual specializingwhat do I
  mean by this?...and WHY is this the case? (See
  this time I didnt put the answer in)

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Question Time

• TWO PURPOSES
• Attack and defend
• MPs in the majority party politely serve up
  beautiful lobs for the PM to spike towards the
  opposition with flourish
• Mister Prime Minister, would you care to comment
  on ltinsert effective policy that has JUST been
  praised wholeheartedly in the British press and
  has made it onto opinion pollsgt
• OR
• Opposition part members launch WILD attacks

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Lord Almighty!

• Limited severely by the Acts of Parliament (1911)
• Lords can delay financial legislation 30 days and
  other legislation one year. This is very rare,
  however.
• In a sense, it checks the PM and Cabinet
  government by scrutinizing and debating
• Overall, though, the House of Lords role has been
  minimized to the nearly symbolic
• It is yet another throwback to the heady British
  days of yore

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Just so ya know

• A few main types of lords
• Life peerage Life member
• Hereditary Peerage 92
• Spiritual Churchmen under 5 of them
• There are also LAW LORDS, who are life peers and
  appellate court judges who can declare things
  unconstitutional, which is derived from the
  Constitutional kindling of the Human Rights Act

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The Human Rights Act

• Creates some basic guarantees of Media Freedom
  and protection from dark police methods
• Also creates the possibility for judicial
  review
• This could change the nature of the House of
  Lords, which, in the general tide of things,
  could have a domino effect that changes the
  nature of power in British governmentwha deuh
  you suppose oy muhyn?

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British Political Parties

• All are to the left of traditional US parties and
  ideological labels, though they share some names,
  such as liberals and conservatives
• This is where YOUR research comes in handy

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The Challenges of FPTP

• People are concerned the FPTP system for MPs
  pushes out the considerable number of minority
  parties, which siphons them into the broad-based
  parties, effectively drowning their voices
• Majoritarian systems like the UK tend to force
  two parties to grow strong