Notes for the Political Structure in Britain

A. The Political Spheres

I. The Crown
II. The Parliament
III. The Government
IV. The People
B. Glossary

A. The Political Spheres

I. The Crown
1. The development of meanings of the word ‘The Crown’
- In the literal sense, it is a circular decoration for the head, usually made of gold and
jewels (= precious stones), and worn by a king or queen at official ceremonies. In
other words, the act of wearing a crown is to signify that you are a leader, or
someone important.

E.g. You might wear a crown on your head at a birthday party or other festival events that
pivot around you.

- With a political connotation, the monarch (King or Queen), typically in British history,
wore a crown to signify their importance and undisputed authority.
- Over time, ‘The Crown’ is both a phrase and symbol used to reference the institution
of the monarchy.
2. The symbolism facets of ‘The Crown’
a. In a general sense
- It serves as a literal symbol of the monarchy authority.
- It is a metaphorical symbol, a phrase and image used to reference the monarch (King
or Queen) in power.
b. To Britain
- It is a symbol of the British royal family, a simplified representation of the literal crown
worn by the current reigning monarch.
- This symbol often appeared in political entities within Britain, connecting the said
entities with the royal family.
c. To Britain in the present
- ‘The Crown’ represents Charles the Third, the King of England and the current
monarch.

Additional information:

King Charles belongs to a secular institution (the royal family) that is almost 1,000 years old.
(with only 11 years of interruption because of the Civil war)

3. The principle of passing down the Crown

The most common method is through hereditary succession, which means the role of power
is transferred through family.

a. The succession line

The oldest male within the royal family (directly related to the previous monarch) → The oldest
female → The closest relative if, by chance, the previous monarch did not have an apparent heir or
direct living descendants.
 - This transfer of power happens automatically upon the death of the current monarch
while the official crowning ceremony will commence after the mourning period.
b. The requirement for the ascension for the crown
- The future monarch, in order to legally obtain the crown, must be a protestant.
c. The history behind the requirement

Henry VIII started the process of creating the Church of England after his split with the Pope
in the 1530s. Henry VIII refused to acknowledge the Pope in Rome as he would not allow
him to remarry and declared himself the Head of Church in England. Creating a separate
church and making himself its head was mainly a political act on Henry’s part, that gave him
greater freedom to do what he wanted and greatly increased his wealth and power.

On 3 November 1534 King Henry VIII became the Head of the newly founded Church of
England. At the time this was a seismic shift in the power dynamics of Europe as England’s
split from Rome was confirmed.

4. The so-called power of the Crown

a. The feign duty of the Crown

In modern day Britain, the Crown serves as:

- The head of the executive and judiciary institutions within the UK.
- The head/leader of the Church of England. (the current biggest religion in Britain with
a number of devotees up to 13.7% of the entire population)
- The Commander-in-chief of the British Armed forces. (The highest officer roles
available within the British military)
b. The symbolic power of the Crown in the politics field
- They have the right to affect Parliament’s action.

E.g. They can summon, suspend, and dissolve Parliament.

- The power to appoint Judges, military officers, promote people to different positions
of power through the British government, assign religious leaders and also
(theoretically) declare war and make peace with other countries.
- The influential power through experience and respectability: The monarch has a
great deal of respect given to them from the political leaders within parliament.

E.g. Throughout modern politics, since 1952, many Prime Ministers often would visit the
Queen weekly to consult her for experience and advice.

5. The extent of the so-called power - ‘Reign but does not rule’

Nevertheless, while the powers given to the Crown might seem impressive, the Monarch
within Britain is often described as someone who reigns but does not rule.

a. Definition
- Reign:
+ In general meaning, it usually does denote somebody who is a leader.
+ In modern day British vocabulary, it usually refers to:
- A symbolic seat of power.
- A person who is a ceremonial, representative position rather than
someone in the real seat of power.
- Rule:
+ The person or institution who governs and has definitive authority.
+ The exercise of authority or governance by a leader.
b. The history behind the phrase:
The death of Charles the First halted the influence of the Monarch by 11 years and in that
time, Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, took control of England.

The death of Oliver Cromwell pushed England in the absence of a leader. Realising that
England needed a symbolic leader to hold the country together, Parliament gave the consent
for the resurrection of the Crown for them to have the symbolic seat of power while the newly
formed British Government had the definitive seat of power.

- In consequence to these events:

The Crown would only exercise their given and limited power under the guidance and control
of the British Parliament.

E.g. The Crown would go to public events, wear the literal crown to represent themselves as
the leader and publicly make decisions. In a sense, they are the figurehead, and the
Government is the mastermind behind.

If the Crown chose to do something with explicit permission from the Government, that act
could risk their symbolic power and the agreement formed in 1660 between Parliament and
the Monarchy.

E.g. In 2019, Boris Johnson, the then Prime Minister, asked Queen Elizabeth to suspend the
Parliament ahead of December's snap general election. Under the underlying threat of
causing a conflict within the political system of Britain and losing the limited power the
Monarch was given, the Queen complied, legal or not.
AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION needed to be made clear here is that the Parliament and
the British Government are two distinct entities within the political spheres of the United
Kingdom.

Parliament itself refers to all of the political entities that work within the building of
Westminster while the Government is the political party (or parties) within the House of
Commons (which will be explained further later) who hold the most ‘seats’ (has the most
members of parliament).

In order to draw a clear distinction, a table would be sufficient.

Parliament

Government

Official name Westminster His Majesty’s Government

(Often used synonymously with (Despite having no real control of
Parliament as the palace of the politic scene, the name for the
Westminster is where Parliament British Government sometimes
is house) inspired many misunderstanding)

II. The Parliament

1. Westminster - the seat of Parliament
- The purpose of Parliament
+ To exercise their power in the realm of jurisprudence.
+ To raise enough funding (usually through taxes) to enable the government to
function.
+ To inspect government policy and administration.
+ To debate and discuss important political issues.
- The authority of the party in power (is not constricted to a litany of rules):
+ Create and pass new laws
+ Conduct the government however they see fit
+ Extend their own time in power regardless of the occurrence of another
election. (though this is rare and unlikely)

→ Power could be said to come from Westminster as this is where all the real important political and
economic decisions are made in Britain.

Within the building of Westminster, there are many parties, but it can be boiled down to the
House of Commons and the House of Lords:

House of Commons House of Lords

Position The lower house of Parliament The upper house of Parliament

of the United Kingdom of the United Kingdom

Method of selection Member will be elected Member will be appointed

Term Every five years For lìfe

Requirement Through election at the General Through reviews of their

Election word achievements, family
connections and experience
 Party association Various political parties as well Many do not belong to a political
as those in the winning party party but the vast majority have
who were not chosen to be similar ideology to the
ministers conservative party

Number of 651 elected members Over 1000 members

members That represent 529 About 300 of those members are
constituencies (areas) in active
England:
- 40 in Wales
- 72 in Scotland
- 18 in Northern Ireland

Name association Members of Parliament (MPs)

Responsibility Vote on legislation Challenge the current

government in power by
debating and delaying legislation
put through by the government in
the House of Commons

Influence Able to stop the Government in

the House of Commons from
extending its power beyond the
usual 5 year period

III. The Government

The Government is the political party (or parties who are in coalition) with the leader of this
party the Prime Minister, and so the head of the government.

a. The extent of their influence

- To pass laws and approve ones, the government needs a majority within the House
of Commons or the Parliament will remain in a state of stalemate and a new election
will need to be held so a clear majority can be found.
IV. The People - The final sphere of power within Britain
1. The criteria to exercise their power (voting) in the General Election
- British citizenship
- Over the age of 18

With the regard to:

- Mental state
- Criminal records
2. What we should know about the General Election

General elections represent legally binding votes that give authority to a party or parties to
form a government.

- The term: every 5 years

- The goal: determining the MP’s in the House of Commons
3. The obstacles/discriminatory in the voting system
a. The critics

There are many critics of the critics of the government and the voting system today who
suggest that the current British system is unfair and does not represent the majority of British
people.

b. The evidence supporting the criticism

- Through every General Election in Britain, the number of voters decreases, this
includes the fact that the younger generation does not participate in the election.

‘Over the last decade, policy makers have become increasingly concerned that young
people are turning their backs on British democracy. This unease has centred primarily on
the fact that only 44% of young people voted in 2010.’

(Young people and politics in Britain, Nottingham Trent University)

In consequence to this fact, the majority of louder voices have more political sway.

This is due to the First-past-the-Post system.

c. What is the First-past-the-Post system?

First-past-the-post voting is an electoral system wherein voters cast a vote for a single
candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins the election.

As a winner-take-all method, it often produces disproportional results, particularly when

electing members of a legislature, in the sense that political parties do not get representation
according to their share of the popular vote. This usually favours the largest party and
parties with strong regional support to the detriment of smaller parties without a
geographically concentrated base.

d. The drawbacks of this system

Supporters of electoral reform are generally highly critical of FPTP because of this and point
out other flaws, such as FPTP's vulnerability to gerrymandering, the high number of wasted
votes and the chance of a majority reversal (i.e., the party winning the most votes getting
fewer seats than the second largest party and losing the election).

E.g. In the 1980s, the Conservative Party won the majority of places within the House of
Commons while still receiving an overall minority vote from the population of Britain. In
consequence of this event, the Conservative government then proceeded to reshape life for
the majority of British people by shutting down much of the North’s industry.

C. Glossary

signify (v): to be a sign of something; to mean

secular (adj): not having any connection with religion

seismic (adj): having very great and usually damaging effects

executive (n): someone in a high position, especially in business, who makes decisions and
puts them into action

judiciary (n): the part of a country's government that is responsible for its legal system,
including all the judges in the country's courts

devotees (n): a person who strongly admires a particular person or is extremely interested in
a subject

summon (v): to order someone to come to or be present at a particular place, or to officially

arrange a meeting of people

suspend (v): to stop something from being active, either temporarily or permanently

dissolve (v): to end an official organisation or a legal arrangement

appoint (v): to choose someone officially for a job or responsibility

denote (v): to represent something

mastermind (v): to plan a difficult activity, in detail and make certain that it happens
successfully

coalition (n): the joining together of different political parties or groups for a particular
purpose, usually for a limited time, or a government that is formed in this way

majority (n): over 50%

stalemate (n): a situation in which neither group involved in an argument can win or get an
advantage and no action can be taken