Контрольная работа: British Monarchy
The National Flag – the Union Jack. Combination of three crosses – St. George’s cross – England, red cross on a white ground; the cross of St. Andrew for Scotland – white diagonal cross on a blue ground; the cross of St. Patrick for Ireland – red diagonal on a white ground. First introduced in 1606, had 2 crosses, union of England and Scotland (James I), 1801 – St. Patrick added.
National Emblems . Rose for England, thistle for Scotland, daffodil (leek) for Wales, shamrock (wild sorrel, red hand) for Ireland. Crown, scepter, sword of state, orb.
Monogram ER – Elizabeth Royal. In the centre of the emblem is situated a heraldic shield, divided into 4 parts. Left upper part & right lower part symbolize England (3 gold leopards on a red ground). Right upper part – Scottish emblem (a red lion on a gold ground). Left lower part – Irish emblem (yellow harp on a blue ground). Around the shield – garter. The shield is held by two Royal Beasts the Lion with the crown in the left, the Unicorn in the right. Under them a blue ribbon with words “Dieu et mon droit” (God & my right) – Richard I. In the background – rose (England), thistle (Scotland), trefoil (Ireland), leek (Wales).
The National Anthem – God Save the Queen (King). Adopted after the War with Napoleon.
The Royal Beasts . The Lion of England, the Unicorn of Scotland, the Red Dragon of Wales, the Grey Hound of Richmond, the White Horse of Hanover, the Griffin of Edward III, the Falcon of the Plantagenets.
The system of titles and honours . Twice a year (at the New Year and on the Queen’s official birthday – the Queen’s birthday honours) – solemn ceremony. 3000 honours are given annually – the majority the Order of the British Empire, most on PM’s advice, a few in the Queen’s personal gift.
The Order of the Garter (since Edward III 14th cent.) – 24 people at once, the Queen is a sovereign of the Order of the Garter, blue ribbon, Prince Charles, + foreign, e.g. the King of Spain. The Order of the Thistle – 16 knights, green ribbon. The Order of Merit (1902) – 24 people. Royal Victorian Order (1896) – who have directly served the Royal Family. The Order of the Bath (1725) – ceremonial ablutions, crimson ribbon. The Order of the British Empire: 5 degrees – member of the British Empire (MBE), officer (OBE), commander (CBE), knight commander (KBE) or dame commander (DBE), knight/dame grand cross (GBE). Lists are made by members of the public. Remain commoners, no special privileges, titles are not hereditary. Highest honour – peerage, historically hereditary, and since 1959 life peerage.
The 5 grades – Duke / Duchess (Your Grace), Marquis / Marchioness (My Lord), Earl / Countess (-“-), Viscount / Viscountess, Baron / Baroness. Connected with person’s occupation. On formal dresses – strawberry leaves, a coronet consisting of 8 strawberry leaves, 4 silver falls and 4 strawberry leaves for a marquis. Peers can disclaim their title, to get the right to sit in the HC – the title falls into abeyance, means title waits until this person dies and his son accepts it. The elder sons of peers have courtesy title, one degree lower than their fathers’. Duke can deprive his son inheritance, but no right to deprive of the title.
Elections in Britain
Members of the House of Commons (MPs) are elected by voters of 651 parliamentary constituencies, into which Britain is divided, each with electorate of about 60,000 voters. Each person over 18 has the right to vote, except prisoners, lords and the mentally ill. The voting is taken by a secret ballot. Each constituency is represented by one MP. The winner is the candidate who gets more votes than any other single candidate. The leader of the party with most seats usually becomes the PM and forms the Government, which can remain in power for up to five years. The second biggest party becomes the official Opposition, and its leader forms the Shadow Cabinet. The PM chooses the date of the next General Election. About a month before the election the PM meets a small group of close advisers to discuss the date. Then the PM formally asks the Queen to dissolve the Parliament – all MPs become unemployed, but government officers continue to function. . Voting takes place on Polling Day (usually a Thursday), the results are known by the next morning. The leader of the party that got the majority is invited by the Queen to form a government. The government is arranged in about 15 departments each with a minister as its head. The PM chooses about 20 MPs from his or her party to become the Cabinet of Ministers.
Members of the House of Lords are not elected. About 70 per cent of them are hereditary peers. The other 30 per cent are life peers, they are appointed by the Queen.
The proportional representation system – all political parties, small as well as large, are represented in the governing body according to the proportion of votes they receive.
Parties . 3 main parties – the Labour (Tony Blair), the Conservative (Ian Duncan Smith), the Liberal-Democrats (Charles Kennedy). Labour – red colour, Conservative – blue, Lib-Dem – orange. The party system since 17th cent.
The House of the Lords
The main function of the HL is to examine and revise bills from the Commons. It also acts as the final court of appeal. Bill send from the HC may be approved by the HL (if financial - automatically), they can amend the bill and send it back to the HC, cannot just reject, can delay for 13 months, after this it becomes a law (“kill a bill”), but the bill is no longer relevant.
Chamber : throne in the center with a canopy and a woolsack (source of Britain’s prosperity) where the Lord Chancellor sits (speaker of the HL). Governmental side – right of the speaker, opposition – left. Benches – red leather, green line separates government and opposition (for contrast) + cross benches. The speaker takes part in debates and votes. If the speaker decides to address as an ordinary – leaves the woolsack.
The House of Commons
Current membership : Labour 409 (a “comfortable” majority), Conservatives 163, Lib-Dem 53, total 659 (+ some smaller parties). Presided over by a speaker, has the right to maintain the order , elected at the beginning of each parliament session or when the previous retires or dies; doesn’t speak in debates, doesn’t vote, calls members to speak, puts the question (to vote).
The Chamber has the same arrangement – speaker’s chair (instead of the throne and the woolsack). Shadow Cabinet of the Opposition has the right to elaborate alternative policies .Frontbenchers, backbenchers, crossbenchers, the visitors’ gallery. The benches are green. Emphasize 2-party system. The process of debates is adversarial.
The main function is to make laws by passing Acts of Parliament, as well as to discuss current political issues.
Parliamentary procedure . Each session begins with the State Opening of the Parliament, if a part has the majority, the Queen reads the speech. A debate, a vote is taken. If no clear majority – hung parliament, dangerous situation, can lead to a parliament crisis. Most of the year – special routine. Proceedings are public, televised, press admitted, then publish the proceedings on the following day in Hansard (it was the first man who published). Business, order of business, parliamentary business; question time – 1 hour, MPs ask Ministers and other MPs questions, prepared 48 hours, by opposition – to reveal the weakness in the Government. The main debate: bills are introduced by the Government, Ministers mostly. The bill is introduced in a form of a motion, any Minister can move something; the question is open to debate. At the end of the debate the Speaker asks MPs if they accept a motion, sometimes the matter is decides on the spot. Approved by a majority, rare – a division is called: aye/no lobbies – vote by walking, a bell is rung, appoint tellers stay on a/n lobbies, each MP walk to the lobby and they are counted; have very little time. The bill goes through some stages: first reading – debated in detail, when is complicated, the House goes into committee, special committee remains (e.g. the Committee of Defense), others leave. 3rd time – passed or rejected, if passed –> the HL –> the Queen for the Royal Assent –> law. Bills are drafted by consultation with professional bodies. Sometimes the proposals take the form of white paper (states that the Government wants to know the attitude of public); if wants public discussion – green paper. The standing committees.
Guillotine motion (first introduced by Thatcher) – cuts down debate, fix the time is allocated. Every party has the party whips – like party policeman, press the members to vote for the Government, all party members vote for. They don’t play truant, if don’t come – reduction of the salary.
The Government and Cabinet
10, Downing Street – PM and the Cabinet. The White Hall – Her Majesty’s Government, governs in the name of the Queen. The Queen invites the leader of the party that has the majority to form a government. The Ministers are almost always the members of the Commons, also a few – Lords. It is based on a tradition, because in the Commons the Government is expected to explain its policies. In 19th century some Governments included members of different parties.
The main ministers and departments . ~100 Ministers, the central core is the Cabinet - ~20 senior Ministers invited by the PM, they are called the Secretaries of State. Minister – a junior member of the Cabinet. Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary) – Jack Straw; Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of Finance) – Gordon Brown; Home Secretary (Home Department); Secretary for Defense, for Culture, Media and Sport, Education and Employment, Social Security, for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.
The main principles : 1 collective responsibility (as if they were one person) even if individuals do not agree. If a Minister has done something wrong, his colleagues have to disown him/her, will have to resign. 2 PM first among equals. In theory the 2nd is supposed to encourage balance and freedom for individual ministers, in practice it can give rise to tension. Insure leadership, allow for each minister some responsibility and freedom in their field.
Cabinet meetings are held in private, 1-2 a week, while the Parliament is sitting, or, less often, during parliamentary recess. The proceedings are confidential, secretaries take a special oath not to disclose. Because of the great amount of business, Secretaries have junior Ministers working under them – Ministers of State (Undersecretaries).
Civil Service – a political body which administers the decisions of the Ministers. Employed ~600,000 civil servants, expected to be politically impartial, serves any government, equally loyal to whatever party is in office; if they want to stand for the Parliament they have to resign first. Centre – the Cabinet Office, responsibilities – considerable, including the proper running of the whole Civil Service.
The Local Government