Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. According to custom, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (which he or she heads) are responsible for their actions to Parliament, of which they are members by (modern) convention. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair (of the Labour Party), who has been in office since 1997. For the complete list of British Prime Ministers, see List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. As the title suggests, the Prime Minister is the monarch's principal advisor. Historically, the monarch's chief minister (if, as was not always the case, any one person could be singled out as such) might have held any of a number of offices: Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord High Steward, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Privy Seal, or Secretary of State among others. With the emergence, in the eighteenth century, of government by a cabinet of these ministers, its head came in time to be called the "Prime Minister" (sometimes also "Premier" or "First Minister"); to this day the Prime Minister always also holds one of the more specific ministerial positions (usually that of First Lord of the Treasury), if only in a nominal sense. Sir Robert Walpole is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister in the modern sense. The Prime Minister is appointed by the Sovereign, who is bound by constitutional convention to choose the individual most likely to command the support of the House of Commons (normally, the leader of the party with a majority in that body). Should the Prime Minister lose the confidence of the House of Commons (indicated, for example, by the passage of a no confidence motion), he or she is morally obliged by similar conventions either to resign (in which case the Sovereign can try to find another Prime Minister who has the House's confidence) or to request the monarch to call a general election. Since the premiership is in some small sense still a de facto position, the office's powers are mainly a matter of custom rather than law, deriving from the incumbent's ability to appoint (through the Sovereign) his or her Cabinet colleagues, as well as from certain uses of the royal prerogative which may be exercised directly by the Prime Minister, or by the Monarch on the Prime Minister's advice. Some commentators have pointed out that, in practice, the powers of the office are subject to very few checks, especially in an era when Parliament and the Cabinet are seen as unwilling to challenge dominant Prime Ministers whose attention is increasingly turned not toward Parliament but toward the news media.

History

Historically, the bulk of the power over the Government of the Kingdom was vested in the Sovereign, acting on the advice of bodies such as Parliament and the Privy Council. Over several years, the Cabinet evolved from the Privy Council, as the monarch began the practice of consulting a few confidential advisors rather than the Council at large. These bodies, however, bore little resemblance to modern Cabinets; they were often not led by a single figure such as a Prime Minister, they often failed to act in unison, and they were appointed and dismissed entirely at the whim of the monarch, with little parliamentary control. The history of the British Prime Ministers owes much more to speculation of historians, rather than to legal acts. The origin of the term prime minister and the question to whom the designation should first be applied have long been issues of scholarly and political debate. The first mention of "Prime Minister" in an official government document occurred during the Premiership of Benjamin Disraeli. The title was used since then in documents, letters and conversation (and in conversation at least may have been used before then). In 1905 the title "Prime Minister" was noted in a royal warrant that placed the Prime Minister, mentioned as such, in the order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York. By this time legal recognition of the title seems to have occurred and it was later mentioned in the Chequers Estate Act of 1917, and the Ministers of the Crown Act of 1937. There are numerous categorical testimonies deep into the 19th century decrying the notion of a First or Prime Minister, credibly declaring the concept alien to the Constitution, and the term actually emerges as a creature of historians, not lawyers or Parliament - indeed the contrary is best documented. In 1741 it was declared in the Commons that "According to our Constitution we can have no sole and prime minister... every... officer has his own proper department; and no officer ought to meddle in the affairs belonging to the department of another." In the same year the Lords agreed that "We are persuaded that a sole, or even a first minister, is an officer unknown to the law of Britain, inconsistent with the Constitution of the country and destructive of liberty in any Government whatsoever." On the other hand, in an interview by Lord Melville with William Pitt in 1803, the latter argued that "this person generally called the first minister" was an absolute necessity for a government to function, and expressed his belief that this person should be the minister in charge of the finances. In 1806 it was asserted in the Commons that "the Constitution abhors the idea of a prime minister", and as late as 1829 the Commons again asserted that "nothing could be more mischievous or unconstitutional than to recognize by act of parliament the existence of such an office." Beatson's Political Index of 1786 gives the list of Prime Ministers and Favourites from the Accession of Henry VIII to the Present Time. Since 1714 Beatson could only find one Sole Minister, and that was Sir Robert Walpole. At all subsequent periods he felt that he had to bracket two, three, or even four people as joint or co-equal ministers whose advice the King took and who therefore controlled the governance of the country. The first Act of Parliament to mention the office of Prime Minister was the Chequers Estate Act, which received the Royal Assent on December 20 1917. It dealt with the gift to the Crown of the Chequers Estate by Sir Arthur and Lady Lee, for use as a country home for future Prime Ministers. Finally, the Ministers of the Crown Act, which received the Royal Assent on July 1 1937, gave an official recognition to the position of Prime Minister and made provision for paying "the First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister" - the two offices that since the 18th century, have usually been held by the Prime Minister: To give statutory recognition to the existence of the position of Prime Minister, and to the historic link between the Premiership and the office of First Lord of the Treasury, by providing in respect to that position and office a salary of... The Act made a certain distinction between "position" (Prime Minister) and "office" (First Lord of the Treasury) emphasizing the unique character of the position and recognized the existence of the Cabinet. Nevertheless, in spite of this recognition, the brass plate outside the Prime Minister's front door still bears the title of First Lord of the Treasury. The lack of official recognition for the position of Prime Minister causes problems when trying to positively identify prime ministers in the British history. Thus, every list of British Prime ministers may omit certain politicians depending on the criteria selected by a researcher. For instance, unsuccessful attempts to form ministries, such as that of Lord Granville in 1746, or the summons of the sovereign to ministers who refused to form a ministry are often ignored. The origins of the modern term Prime Minister date back to the time after the Glorious Revolution (1688), when Parliament's power began to steadily grow at the expense of that of the monarch. It was under William III and his successor, Anne, that the Cabinet began to take its modern shape. Individuals such as Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin and Robert Harley were recognised as the leaders of their respective ministries, but they cannot be considered Prime Ministers in the modern sense, given that they exercised little control over their colleagues. Similarly, the Cabinets of Anne's successor, George I, were led by individuals such as Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope, and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, but these individuals were not truly Prime Ministers. Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland, who were joint leaders of their Cabinet, were succeeded in 1721 by Sir Robert Walpole, who held the influential office of First Lord of the Treasury. Previous holders of the post had often been important figures in government, but not to such a degree as Walpole. His influence grew even stronger because the King, George I, was not active in English politics, preferring to concentrate on his native Hanover. Walpole is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister, not just because of his influence in Government, but because he could force his colleagues in the Cabinet to act in a harmonious and unified fashion, instead of intriguing against each other for more power. Walpole's office, First Lord of the Treasury, became strongly associated with the leadership of the Government; it became the position which the Prime Minister almost always held. Though Walpole was the nation's first "Prime Minister," these words were used as a term of reproach toward him. His tenure was not as important in terms of constitutional development as some have imagined. His term and power were primarily based on the favour of the Crown, rather than the support of the House of Commons. His immediate successors were not nearly as powerful as he; the influence of the Crown continued to remain paramount. Still, the powers of the monarch were slowly diminished, and those of the Prime Minister gradually increased, over the course of the following years. Indeed, during the last years of George II's life, policy was chiefly directed by Ministers such as William Pitt the Elder. The reign of George III, which began in 1760 upon the death of George II, is particularly notable for developments in the office of Prime Minister. Over the course of his reign, the King was sometimes forced by parliamentary pressure to appoint Prime Ministers and Ministers whom he did not personally favour. Control over the composition of the Cabinet had not, however, been completely lost by the King; in some cases, George was able to prevent the appointment of politicians whom he detested (for instance, Charles James Fox). The influence of the monarch nevertheless continued to gradually dwindle; this trend became clearly noticeable during the reign of William IV, the last King to appoint a Prime Minister against the wishes of Parliament. William attempted to impose his personal will in 1834, when he dismissed William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (whose Whig administration he disliked) and replaced him with a Tory, Sir Robert Peel. Peel, however, found it impossible to govern without the support of the Whig House of Commons, and was forced to resign from his position. Since Peel's administration, the Sovereign has had very little discretion in appointing Prime Ministers; no monarch since William IV has attempted to appoint a Prime Minister against the wishes of Parliament. As the royal influence over ministerial appointments disappeared, the power of the House of Commons began to rise, its political superiority over the House of Lords being established by the Parliament Act 1911. During the early twentieth century, the convention that the Prime Minister should be responsible not to the Lords, but to the Commons, was formed. The associated convention that the Prime Minister should be a member of the Lower House was developed. The last Prime Minister to lead his whole administration from the Lords was Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, from 1895 to 1902. Mention, however, must be made of the appointment of Alec Douglas-Home, 14th Earl of Home in 1963. Lord Home was the last Prime Minister who was a peer, but, within days of attaining office, he disclaimed his peerage, mindful of the convention that the Prime Minister should sit in the House of Commons. A junior member of his Conservative Party who had been selected as candidate in a by-election in a staunch Conservative seat stood aside, allowing Douglas-Home to contest the by-election and procure a seat in the lower House.

The Office

Although in recent years it has never hindered any premier in the exercise of his or her office, the official status of the Prime Minister remains somewhat ambiguous. A Prime Minister has virtually no statutory authority in his or her own right; all the actual business of running the country and spending the budget is (in theory) carried out by the holders of more explicitly defined Cabinet offices, who are empowered to do so by various Acts of Parliament. The Prime Minister holds at least one of these more tangible ministerial offices himself—normally First Lord of the Treasury—and indeed receives his or her salary and public accommodation only by virtue of that office. The title "Prime Minister", however, is not altogether a matter of convention, as in 1905 it was in a sense given official recognition when the "Prime Minister" was named in the "order of precedence," outranked, among non-royals, only by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and by the Lord Chancellor. The first prime minister in this sense is therefore considered by some to have been Henry Campbell-Bannerman, although the term Prime Minister first appeared on official documents during the premiership of Benjamin Disraeli and was used informally before then. Furthermore, the office is not entirely without statutory justification, since it has in fact been explicitly named a number of times in emergency wartime legislation. All sorts of official pronouncements are issued from Downing Street in the name of the "Prime Minister" without further circumlocution. By convention, the Prime Minister also holds the office of First Lord of the Treasury. The only Prime Ministers who have not also served as First Lord for a significant part of their administrations are William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (who was Lord Privy Seal) and, for most of his three premierships, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (who was either Foreign Secretary or Lord Privy Seal except for the first few months of his second premiership when he was First Lord). Since Lord Salisbury's retirement in 1902, every Prime Minister has also been First Lord of the Treasury. Some have held yet more offices; for example, Tony Blair is both First Lord and Minister for the Civil Service. There is also the associated post of Deputy Prime Minister. An officer with such a title need not always exist; rather, the existence of the post is dependent on the form of Cabinet organisation preferred by the Prime Minister and his or her party. The office's title, however, may be considered something of a misnomer; the Deputy Prime Minister does not automatically succeed when a vacancy in the premiership is suddenly created, nor does he or she assume any additional powers when the Prime Minister is outside the country. He may, however, be expected to stand in for the Prime Minister on occasion, for example by taking the dispatch box at Prime Minister's Question Time when the Prime Minister is unable to attend. This occurs with varying frequency—usually only important international negotiations prevent the Prime Minister from taking Questions when the House is in session. The position has often been used honorifically. Under the Blair Government, a separate department called the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created in 2002. The present Deputy Prime Minister is John Prescott, who was previously Secretary of State for Transport, Environment and the Regions. The previous holder of the post was Michael Heseltine, who was appointed in the John Major government after the post had briefly fallen into desuetude. In the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the position which corresponds with that of Prime Minister is First Minister. (See First Minister of Scotland, First Minister of Wales, and First Minister of Northern Ireland.)

Term

The office of Prime Minister is governed not by codified laws, but by unwritten and to some extent fluid customs known as constitutional conventions, which have developed over years of British history. These conventions are for the most part founded on the underlying principle that the Prime Minister and his fellow Ministers must maintain the support of the democratically elected component of Parliament, the House of Commons. The Sovereign, as a constitutional monarch, always acts in accordance with such conventions, as do Prime Ministers themselves. Whenever the office of Prime Minister falls vacant, the Sovereign is responsible for appointing the new incumbent; the appointment is formalised at a ceremony known as Kissing Hands. In accordance with unwritten constitutional conventions, the Sovereign must appoint the individual most likely to maintain the support of the House of Commons: usually, the leader of the party which has a majority in that House. If no party has a majority (an unlikely occurrence given the United Kingdom's First Past the Post electoral system), two or more groups may form a coalition, whose agreed leader is then appointed Prime Minister. The majority party becomes "Her Majesty's Government," and the next largest party becomes "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition." The head of the largest Opposition party becomes the Leader of the Opposition. Leader of the Opposition The term of a Prime Minister is linked to the term of Members of the House of Commons. Parliament has a maximum term of five years; in practice, however, it is usually "dissolved" sooner by the Sovereign, acting on a request from the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister normally chooses the moment most advantageous to his or her party for the dissolution. In some circumstances, however, the Prime Minister may be compelled to dissolve Parliament (or, if he or she prefers, to resign) by the House of Commons. The House may attempt to force the dissolution by passing a Motion of No Confidence or by rejecting a Motion of Confidence. The same effect is achieved if the House of Commons rejects the Budget ("withdraws Supply"), or if it rejects some other important component of the Government's agenda. Such defeats for the Government, however, are rare; there have only been three defeats on confidence issues since the nineteenth century: twice in 1924, and once in 1979. The first in 1924 took place immediately after an inconclusive election result and led to an immediate change of government, but in the other two cases a general election was called (and in both the incumbent government was defeated). Whatever the reason—the expiry of Parliament's five year term, the choice of the Prime Minister, or a Government defeat in the House of Commons—the dissolution is followed by general elections. If his or her party has lost a majority in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister is compelled to resign (or request a dissolution, but the Sovereign is not compelled to accept such a request). The leader of the party or coalition now in the majority is then appointed Prime Minister by the Sovereign. The custom that requires the Prime Minister to resign immediately after an electoral loss was last broken by Edward Heath after the general election of February 1974, which did not produce an absolute majority for any party. Heath opted not to resign immediately, instead negotiating with a third party (the Liberal Party) to form a coalition. Heath did eventually resign when the negotiations failed. Lastly, defeats in general elections are not the only events which end Prime Ministerial terms. For example, Margaret Thatcher left office because she no longer retained the support of her own party. Prime Ministers are also free to resign for personal reasons (such as health concerns). The last Prime Minister to die in office was Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (in 1865). The only Prime Minister to be assassinated was Spencer Perceval (in 1812).

Powers and restraints

The Prime Minister's chief duty is to "form a Government"—that is to say, to create a Cabinet or Ministry which will sustain the support of the House of Commons—when commissioned by the Sovereign. He or she generally co-ordinates the policies and activities of the Cabinet and the various Government departments, acting as the "face" of Her Majesty's Government. The Sovereign exercises much of his or her royal prerogative on the Prime Minister's advice. (For the prerogative of dissolving Parliament, see "Term" above.) The Prime Minister also has a wide range of powers of appointment. In most cases, the actual appointments are made by the Sovereign, but the selection and recommendation is made by the Prime Minister. Ministers, Privy Counsellors, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, senior civil servants, senior military officers, members of important committees and commissions, and several other officials are selected, and in some cases may be removed, by the Prime Minister. Furthermore, peerages, knighthoods, and other honours are bestowed by the Sovereign only on the advice of the Prime Minister. He also formally advises the Sovereign on the appointment of Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England, but his discretion is limited by the existence of the Crown Nominations Commission. The appointment of senior judges, while on the advice of the Prime Minister for constitutional reasons, is now on the basis of recommendations from independent bodies. The only important British honours over which the Prime Minister does not have control are the Orders of the Garter, Thistle, and Merit, and the Royal Victorian Order, which are all within the "personal gift" of the Sovereign. The extent of the Sovereign's ability to influence the nature of the Prime Ministerial advice is unknown, but probably varies depending upon the personal relationship between the Sovereign and the Prime Minister of the day. Royal Victorian Order There exist several limits on the powers of the Prime Minister. Firstly, he or she is (theoretically at least) only a first among equals in the Cabinet. The extent of a Prime Minister's power over the Cabinet may vary. In some cases, the Prime Minister may be a mere figurehead, with actual power being wielded by one or more other individuals. Weak or titular Prime Ministers were more common prior to the twentieth century; examples include William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire and William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. At the opposite extreme, however, Prime Ministers may dominate the Cabinet so much that they become "Semi-Presidents." Examples of dominant Prime Ministers (more common during the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries) include William Ewart Gladstone, David Lloyd George, Neville Chamberlain, Sir Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher (who was powerful enough as to be able to organise her cabinet without regard to Parliamentary conventions), and Tony Blair. Some Prime Ministers go from one position to the other: Ramsay MacDonald, for example, was dominant in his Labour governments, but during his National Government his powers diminished so that by his final years in Downing Street he was merely the figurehead of the government. In modern times, Prime Ministers are never merely titular; dominant or somewhat dominant personalities are the norm. The Prime Minister's powers are also limited by the House of Commons, whose support the Government is obliged to maintain. The House of Commons checks the powers of the Prime Minister through committee hearings and through Question Time, a weekly occurrence in which the Prime Minister is obliged to respond to the questions of the Leader of the Opposition and other members of the House. In practice, however, a Government with a strong majority need rarely fear "backbench rebellions." Members of Parliament may hold ministerial offices (by convention up to 90 offices, or varying levels of seniority, exist), and may fear removal for failing to support the Prime Minister. Party discipline, furthermore, is very strong; a Member of Parliament may be expelled from his or her party for failing to support the Government on important issues, and although this will not mean he or she must resign as an MP, it would make re-election difficult for most. Restraints imposed by the House of Commons grow even weaker when the Government's party enjoys a large majority in that House. In general, the Prime Minister and his or her colleagues may secure the House's support for almost any bill. The House of Lords is less restrictive of the Prime Minister's power. Under the Salisbury Convention, the House of Lords normally does not seek to oppose any measure promised by the Government in its election manifesto. When the House of Lords does oppose the Prime Minister, it is generally ineffectual in defeating entire Bills (though almost all Bills are successfully modified by the Upper House during their passage through Parliament). Peers (members of the House of Lords) are created by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister; by obtaining the creation of several new peers, the Prime Minister may flood the House of Lords with individuals supportive of his position. The threat of such a tactic was used in 1911 to ensure the passage of the Parliament Act 1911, which, together with the Parliament Act 1949, reduces the House of Lords's powers and establishes the supremacy of the Commons (in particular, the House of Lords can only delay, but not reject, most bills on which the Commons insist). The 1949 Parliament Act is, however, the subject of a current legal challenge as to its efficacy. The role and power of the Prime Minister have been subject to much change in the last fifty years. There has gradually been a change from Cabinet decision making and deliberation to the dominance of the Prime Minister. As early as 1965, in a new introduction to Walter Bagehot's classic work The English Constitution, Richard Crossman identified a new era of "Prime Ministerial" government. Some commentators, such as the political scientist Michael Foley have argued there is a de facto "British Presidency". In Tony Blair's government many sources such as former ministers have suggested that decision making is centered around him and Gordon Brown, and Cabinet is not longer used for decision making . Former ministers such as Clare Short and Chris Smith have talked of the total lack of decision making in cabinet. On her resignation, Short denounced "the centralisation of power into the hands of the Prime Minister and an increasingly small number of advisers". The Butler Review of 2004 condemned Blair's style of "sofa government". Ultimately, however, the Prime Minister may be held responsible for the consequences of legislation or of general government policy. Margaret Thatcher's party forced her from power after the introduction of the poll tax; Sir Anthony Eden fell from power following the Suez Crisis; Neville Chamberlain resigned after being criticised for his handling of negotiations with Germany prior to the outbreak of World War II.

Precedence and privileges

World War IIThe Prime Minister had no special precedence until the order of precedence first recognized the office in 1905. Throughout the United Kingdom, he outranks all others except the Royal Family, the Lord Chancellor, and senior ecclesiastical functionaries (in England and Wales, the Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York; in Scotland, the Lord High Commissioner and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; in Northern Ireland, the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church). The Prime Minister draws his or her salary not as Prime Minister, but as First Lord of the Treasury. At present, he or she receives £121,437, in addition to his or her salary as a Member of Parliament (£57,485). Although the Prime Minister is undoubtedly the most powerful figure in British government, his or her compensation is not the highest amongst ministers: that distinction goes to the Lord Chancellor. The Prime Minister traditionally resides at 10 Downing Street in London, which George II offered to Sir Robert Walpole as a personal gift. Walpole, however, only accepted it as the official home of the First Lord, taking up his residence there in 1735. One may note that the Prime Minister only resides in 10 Downing Street in his or her capacity as First Lord; the few nineteenth century Prime Ministers who were not First Lords were forced to live elsewhere. Though most First Lords have lived in 10 Downing Street, some have preferred to reside in their private residences. Furthermore, some such as Harold Macmillan and John Major have lived in Admiralty House whilst 10 Downing Street was undergoing renovations or repairs. Adjacent to Downing Street is 11 Downing Street, the home of the Second Lord of the Treasury (who, in modern times, has also filled the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer). After he became Prime Minister in 1997, Tony Blair found 10 Downing Street too meagre for his large family, and he swapped residences with the Chancellor and Second Lord, Gordon Brown. However, the Prime Ministerial offices are still maintained in Number 10. 12 Downing Street is the residence of the Chief Whip, and these are the only three residences remaining in the road. The Prime Minister is also entitled to use the country house of Chequers in Buckinghamshire. The Prime Minister, like other Cabinet Ministers and senior Members of Parliament, is customarily a member of the Privy Council; thus, he or she becomes entitled to prefix "The Right Honourable" to his or her name. Membership of the Council is retained for life (unless the individual resigns it, or is expelled—both rare phenomena). It is a constitutional convention that only a Privy Counsellor can be appointed Prime Minister, but invariably all potential candidates have already attained this status. The only occasion when a non-Privy Councillor was the natural appointment was Ramsay MacDonald in 1924, but the issue was resolved by appointing him to the Council immediately prior to his appointment as Prime Minister.

Retirement honours

1924 It is customary for the Sovereign to grant a Prime Minister some honour or dignity when that individual retires from politics. The honour commonly, but not invariably, bestowed on Prime Ministers is membership of the United Kingdom's most senior order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter. The practice of creating retired Prime Ministers Knights of the Garter has been fairly prevalent since the middle-nineteenth century. It has also been common for Prime Ministers to be granted peerages upon their retirement from the premiership. (The grant of a peerage, which elevates the individual to the House of Lords, may be delayed if the Prime Minister wishes to stay in the House of Commons for some more time.) Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom (which was always hereditary). However, since the 1960s, hereditary peerages have generally been eschewed, and life peerages have been preferred. The granting of hereditary peerages was briefly renewed during the 1980s, when former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton, but has not since been continued (neither Margaret Thatcher nor John Major accepted hereditary peerages, although Margaret Thatcher holds the non-hereditary title of Baroness Thatcher). Of the eighteen Prime Ministers since 1902 (excluding the current holder of the office), eight have been created both peers and Knights of the Garter; three have only been created peers; three have only become Knights of the Garter; and four have not been granted either honour—in two cases due to their death while still active in politics, in two others out of a wish to die a commoner. The retired Prime Ministers who are still living are:
- The Rt Hon. The Baroness Thatcher LG OM PC
- The Rt Hon. Sir John Major KG CH In November 2004, the polling company MORI in association with the University of Leeds questioned 258 political science academics in the United Kingdom (139 of whom replied) on the perceived success of twentieth century Prime Ministers. The [http://www.mori.com/polls/2004/leeds.shtml results] showed that Clement Attlee was rated as most successful, followed by Churchill and Lloyd George. Anthony Eden was rated as the least successful.

List of Prime Ministers

Anthony Eden For the complete list of British Prime Ministers, see List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom. Looking back at the eighteenth century, it is often unclear who should be considered the Prime Minister, with holders of the offices of First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Privy Seal, and Secretary of State all at one time or another acting as the principal minister in various governments. For instance, John Carteret, 2nd Baron Carteret Secretary of State for the Northern Department from 1742 to 1744 and William Pitt the Elder as Secretary of State for the Southern Department from 1756 to 1757 and again from 1757 to 1761 had many of the powers of a Prime Ministers, although other men held the principal office of First Lord of the Treasury. This list follows conventional practice in not listing such figures as Prime Ministers. There are, however, two exceptions to this generalisation. Firstly, in 1766, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (previously William Pitt the Elder) was asked by the King to form a ministry, but chose to take the office of Lord Privy Seal instead of the position of First Lord. Nevertheless, he is generally considered to have served as Prime Minister, for the King had asked him to form a Government. Similarly, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, was asked to form ministries thrice, though he only served as First Lord for a short part of his second term. Lord Salisbury is also listed as a Prime Minister, though he was not First Lord, again because the Queen had asked him to form the ministry. Such considerations make the earlier part of the list somewhat less authoritative in its determination of who, exactly, was Prime Minister at such times.

References

- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page123.asp 10 Downing Street. (2004). Official Website.]
- Farnborough, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron. (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third, 11th ed. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ Parliament of the United Kingdom. (2004). Official Website.]
- [http://www.archontology.org/nations/england/bpm/ Principal Ministers of the Crown: 1730-2005]
- Chapter 12 Blair's Cabinet: Monarchy Returns, British Government in Crisis, Christopher Foster, Hart Publishing, 2005
- [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12948497&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=SHORT%20ATTACKS%20'OBSESSED'%20BLAIR] Category:Government of the United Kingdom Category:History of the United Kingdom ja:イギリスの首相

United Kingdom

:For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country located off the north-western coast of continental Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK has several overseas territories and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands come under the UK's sovereignty. The UK also has close relationships with the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, as they all share the same head of state. The UK is also one of the largest member states of the European Union and a founding partner of both the UN and NATO.
Terminology

- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The official name for the sovereign state
- United Kingdom: an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Britain: an informal term that sometimes means United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means Great Britain
- British: an informal term that sometimes means from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means from Great Britain
- Great Britain (as a geographical term): the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term): England + Wales + Scotland
- British Isles (as a geographical term): Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- Ireland (as a geographical term): the second largest island of the British Isles
- Ireland (as a political term): an abbreviation of the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state on the island of Ireland
- Northern Ireland: a political region of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Ulster (as a geographical term): Often used to refer to Northern Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Language term 'Ulad.' It was one of the ancient Irish provinces (the others were Connaught, Leinster and Munster.). Although it is normally used to refer to Northern Ireland, Ulster also (traditionally) includes Counties Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, which lie in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster is often favoured by the Protestant community.
History
Protestant Today's state is the latest of several unions formed over the last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the current name being adopted. 1927 The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing Western world ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy - to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation. The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions.
Government and politics
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. While the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997. In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [http://www.mori.com/mrr/2000/c000616.shtml]. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members (though this number is not fixed): hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of England is the established church of the state in England. established church]] The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The constitution of the United Kingdom is un-codified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referenda for devolution succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002.
Subdivisions
The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent parts:
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:
- The regions and administrative counties of England
- The council areas of Scotland
- The counties and county boroughs of Wales
- The districts of Northern Ireland The Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes. Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts. Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
Military
The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. Ministry of Defence The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines, while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed in over 80 countries. The UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign. The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.
Geography
Troubles World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom]] Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or greater. Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343 metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The largest city is Glasgow. Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry ('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feett (12 m) high. In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.
Economy
artificial island The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.
Society

Demographics
At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages five through sixteen. referendum The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England as the offical religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to Lords Temporal, bishops of the Church of England. A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.
Culture
Urdu The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions including the locomotive, vaccination, television, vacuum, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine. The English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because of the country’s empire) and is referred to as a ‘global language’. It is now taught as a second language more than any other around the world. Over the next few decades, it is estimated that approximately half the world’s population will be proficient in the language. Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson and William Blake. Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in England. The BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected broadcasting network on the globe, with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV, Channel 4, five (TV) and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the three soaps Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows Big Brother and The X Factor. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations, notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office. The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars, including the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK.
Sport
A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, rugby, tennis and boxing. The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate. The UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain - whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. Cricket is also played in the UK, although it is focussed in England. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar. Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course.
Miscellaneous topics

External links

- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] History of the nations within the UK.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html CIA World Factbook: UK.]
- [http://www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to UK governmental services and websites.]
- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk Number 10 Downing Street]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
- [http://www.opsi.gov.uk Office of Public Sector Information] Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of the UK.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk The British Monarchy]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The United Kingdom Parliament]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5703&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272 Official Yearbook of the UK] factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online).
- [http://www.ukcities.co.uk UK Cities] lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK.
- [http://www.justuk.org UK travel guide] United Kingdom for travellers.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom World66 Guide to United Kingdom] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.multimap.co.uk www.multimap.co.uk] provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK.
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk www.streetmap.co.uk] an alternative to multimap.
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/united-kingdom/map.html Physical map of United Kingdom.]
- [http://www.upmystreet.com www.upmystreet.com] detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom.
- [http://www.parks.it/world/UK/Eindex.html UK Parks] National parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas. ----
Category:British Isles Category:European countries Category:European Union member states Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies A als:Grossbritannien und Nordirland zh-min-nan:Liân-ha̍p Ông-kok ko:영국 ms:United Kingdom ja:イギリス simple:United Kingdom th:สหราชอาณาจักร

British monarchy

:This article describes the British monarchy from the perspective of the United Kingdom. In the other Commonwealth Realms, the constitutional role of the monarchy is identical, but the historical and cultural significance may differ. The British monarch or Sovereign is the head of state of the United Kingdom and in the British overseas territories. The current British monarchy can trace its line back to the Anglo-Saxon period. During the ninth century, Wessex came to dominate other kingdoms, and during the tenth, England was consolidated into a single realm. Most British monarchs in the Middle Ages ruled as absolute monarchs, as was standard across most of Europe. However, their power was often limited by the nobility and, later, by an increasingly democratic House of Commons. The powers of the monarchy, known as the Royal Prerogative, are still very extensive. Most prerogative powers are exercised directly by ministers, such as the power to regulate the civil service and the power to issue passports. A few major powers are exercised nominally by the monarch herself, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and according to constitutional convention. An example is the power to dissolve Parliament. According to a parliamentary report , "The Crown cannot invent new prerogative powers" and "It is long established law that Parliament can override and displace the prerogative by statute". It has long been established in the Constitution of the United Kingdom that political power is ultimately exercised by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, of which the Sovereign is a non-partisan, largely ceremonial component, along with the House of Lords and the House of Commons, and by the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Thus, as the modern British monarchy is a constitutional one, the Sovereign's role is in practice limited to ceremonial and non-partisan functions (such as being the Fount of Honour). This role has been recognised since the nineteenth century; Walter Bagehot famously identified the monarchy as the "dignified part" (that is, ceremonial), rather than the "efficient part" of government in The English Constitution (1867). In practice, political power is exercised today through Parliament and by the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Sovereign is the Supreme Governor of the established Church of England, but in practice the spiritual leadership of the Church is the responsibility of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The present monarch is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952. The heir apparent is her eldest son, The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales undertakes various public ceremonial functions, as does the Queen's husband, The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. There are several other members of Royal Family besides those aforementioned, including the Queen's other children, grandchildren and cousins. The British monarch is also Head of the Commonwealth and the monarch of fifteen other Commonwealth realms.

History

English monarchy

Monarchs had existed in the island of Britain since before Roman times; many of these "Celtic" rulers were to ally or fall to the Romans who made Britain part of their empire. Rome withdrew from Britain in the early fifth century, and a period of history followed that has, perhaps unfairly, been referred to as the Dark Ages. Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled in Britain, and formed many kingdoms, the seven most powerful of which have been referred to as the Heptarchy. This term, however, is somewhat misleading, as it does not truly convey the complicated political make-up of Britain at the time. Each kingdom had its own "monarch," and at times one powerful king would have dominance over several others: there was no "British monarchy", however, and the idea that the so-called Bretwalda was some official royal title is rather fanciful. This was a ceremonial figure as opposed to a supreme ruler. Following the Viking raids and settlement of the ninth century, the kingdom of Wessex emerged as the dominant English kingdom. Alfred the Great secured Wessex and achieved dominance over western Mercia, but he did not become King of England; the nearest title he assumed was "King of the Anglo-Saxons". It was Alfred's successors of the tenth century who built the kingdom now recognised as England, though even by the reign of Edgar the Peaceful England was not beyond fracturing into its constituent parts. The eleventh century saw England become more stable, despite a number of wars with the Danes which resulted in a Danish monarchy for some years. When William, Duke of Normandy conquered England in 1066 he became monarch of a kingdom with probably the strongest royal authority in Europe. William, Duke of Normandy, depicts the Norman Conquest.]] The Norman Conquest was crucial in British history, in terms of both political and social change. The new monarch continued the centralisation of power begun in the Anglo-Saxon period, while the Feudal System also continued to develop. William I was succeeded by two of his sons: William II, and then Henry I. Henry made a controversial decision to name his daughter Matilda (his only surviving child) as his heir. Following Henry's death in 1135, one of William I's grandsons, Stephen, laid claim to the Throne, and took power with the support of most of the barons. Stephen's weak rule, however, allowed Matilda to challenge his reign; as a result, England soon descended into a period of disorder known as the Anarchy. Stephen maintained a precarious hold on power for the rest of his life; however, he agreed to a compromise under which he would be succeeded by Matilda's son Henry, who accordingly became the first monarch of the Angevin or Plantagenet dynasty as Henry II in 1154. The reigns of most of the Angevin monarchs was marred by civil strife and conflicts between the monarch and the nobility. Henry II faced rebellions from his own sons, the future monarchs Richard I and John. Nevertheless, Henry did manage to achieve an expansion of his empire; most notable was the conquest of Ireland, which had previously consisted of a multitude of rival kingdoms. Henry granted Ireland to his younger son John who ruled as "Lord of Ireland." Upon Henry's death, his elder son Richard succeeded to the throne; Richard, however, was absent from England for most of his reign, as he was fighting the Crusades. When Richard died, John succeeded him, thereby uniting England and Ireland under a single monarch. John's reign was marked by conflict with the barons, who in 1215 coerced him into issuing the Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter") to guarantee the rights and liberties of the nobility. Soon afterwards, John repealed the charter, plunging England into a civil war known as the First Barons' War. The war came to an abrupt end after John died in 1216, leaving the Crown to his nine-year-old son Henry III. The barons, led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, again rebelled later in Henry's reign, beginning the Second Barons' War. The war, however, ended in a clear royalist victory, and in the execution of many rebels. The next monarch, Edward I, was far more successful in maintaining royal power, and was responsible for the conquest of Wales and the establishment of English domination in Scotland. However gains in Scotland were reversed during the reign of his successor, Edward II, who was occupied with a disastrous conflict with the nobility. Edward II was, in 1311, forced to relinquish many of his powers to a committee of baronial "ordainers"; however, military victories helped him regain control in 1322. Nevertheless, in 1327, Edward was deposed and executed by his wife Isabella and his son, who became Edward III. The new monarch soon also claimed the French Crown, setting off the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Edward III's campaigns were largely successful, and culminated in the conquest of much French territory. Edward's reign was also marked by the further development of Parliament, which came to be divided into two Houses for the first time. In 1377, Edward III died, leaving the Crown to his ten year-old grandson Richard II. The new monarch, like many of his predecessors, conflicted with the nobles, especially by attempting to concentrate power in his own hands. In 1399, whilst he was away in Ireland, his cousin Henry Bolingbroke seized power; Richard was then forced to abdicate and was murdered. Henry IV was the grandson of Edward III and the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; hence, his dynasty was known as the House of Lancaster. For most of his reign, Henry IV was forced to fight off plots and rebellions; his success was partly due to the military skill of his son, the future Henry V. Henry V's own reign, which began in 1413, was largely free from domestic strife, leaving the king free to pursue the Hundred Years' War in France. Henry V was victorious in his conquest; however, his sudden death in 1422 left his infant son Henry VI on the Throne, and gave the French an opportunity to overthrow English rule. The unpopularity of Henry's regents, and afterwards, Henry's own ineffectual leadership, led to the weakening of the House of Lancaster. The Lancastrians faced a challenge from the House of York, so called because its head, a descendant of Edward III, was Richard, Duke of York. Although the Duke of York died in battle in 1460, his eldest son Edward led the Yorkists to victory in 1461. The Wars of the Roses, nevertheless, continued intermittently during the reigns of the Yorkists Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III. Ultimately, the conflict culminated in success for the Lancastrian branch, led by Henry Tudor (Henry VII), in 1485, when Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field. Battle of Bosworth Field The end of the Wars of the Roses formed a major turning point in the history of the monarchy. Much of the nobility was either decimated on the battlefield or executed for participation in the war, and many aristocratic estates were lost to the Crown. Moreover, feudalism was dying, and the feudal armies controlled by the barons became obsolete. Hence, the Tudor monarchs easily re-established absolute supremacy in the realm, and the conflicts with the nobility that had plagued previous monarchs came to an end. The power of the Crown reached its zenith during the reign of the second Tudor king, Henry VIII. Henry VIII's reign was one of great political change; England was transformed from a weak kingdom into one of the powers of Europe. Religious upheaval also occurred, as disputes with the Pope led the monarch to break away from the Roman Catholic Church and to establish the Church of England (the Anglican Church). Another important result of Henry VIII's reign was the annexation of Wales (which had been conquered centuries earlier, but had remained a separate dominion) to England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. Henry VIII's son and successor, the young Edward VI, continued with further religious reforms. Edward VI died in 1553, precipitating a succession crisis. He was wary of allowing his Catholic elder half-sister Mary to succeed to the Throne, and therefore drew up a will designating the Lady Jane Grey as his heiress, even though no woman had ever reigned over England. Jane's reign, however, lasted only nine days; with tremendous popular support, Mary deposed her, revoked her proclamation as Queen, and declared herself the lawful Sovereign. Mary I attempted to return England to Roman Catholicism, in the process burning numerous Protestants at the stake as heretics. Mary I died in 1558, to be succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I, who once again returned England to Protestantism. The Elizabethan era involved the growth of England as a world power, as evidenced by England's success in the Anglo-Spanish War (especially the celebrated defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588) and by English colonies in North America. The era is often referred to as a "golden age" for England, especially due to the cultural achievements of William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, and others.

Scottish monarchy

In Scotland, as in England, monarchies emerged after the withdrawal of Rome in the early fifth century. The two primary groups that lived in Scotland at this time were the Picts (who inhabited the kingdom of Pictavia) and the Britons (who lived in several kingdoms in southern Scotland, including the Kingdom of Strathclyde). The late fifth century was marked by the arrival of another important group, the Scotti (who would later give their name to Scotland), from Ireland. The area settled by the Scotti would become known as the Kingdom of Dalriada. The Dalriadan King Kenneth MacAlpin obtained the Pictish Crown in the middle ninth century, and is traditionally viewed as the founder of united Scotland (or Alba). The expansion of Scottish dominions continued over the next century, as other territories such as Strathclyde were subjugated. Alba Early Scottish monarchs did not inherit the Crown directly; instead, they were elected under a custom known as tanistry. Although such was not its original purpose, tanistry soon evolved into a system whereby the monarchy alternated between two branches of the House of Alpin. As a result, however, the two rival dynastic lines clashed, often violently. The problems relating to succession were especially illustrated by the period from 942 to 1005, during which seven consecutive monarchs were either murdered or killed in battle. Tanistry and the rotation of the monarchy between different lines were abandoned after Malcolm II ascended the throne in 1005. Thus, when Duncan I succeeded Malcolm II in 1034, he became the first Scottish monarch to directly inherit the throne. Duncan had previously become King of Strathclyde; as a consequence of his accession as King of Scots, most of modern-day Scotland stood unified under a single monarch. Only a few northern areas under the control of the Vikings remained separate. In 1040, Duncan suffered defeat in battle at the hands of Macbeth, the subject of William Shakespeare's famous play (The Tragedy of Macbeth). Later, in 1057, Duncan's son Malcolm Canmore avenged his father's death by defeating and killing Macbeth. A few months later, after the murder of Macbeth's son Lulach, Malcolm Canmore ascended the throne as Malcolm III, becoming the first monarch of the House of Dunkeld. In achieving his victory, Malcolm had relied on assistance from England, heralding a long era of English interference in Scottish affairs. England's involvement became apparent after Malcolm III's death in 1093, when it participated in a series of Scottish succession conflicts between Malcolm's brother Donald III and Malcolm's sons. From 1107, Scotland was briefly partitioned under the will of King Edgar, who divided his dominions between his elder son Alexander I (who ruled northern Scotland as a king) and his younger son David (who ruled southern Scotland as an earl). After Alexander's death in 1124, David inherited his dominions, and Scotland became unified once more. David was succeeded by the ineffective Malcolm IV, and then by William the Lion, the longest-reigning King of Scots before the Union of the Crowns. William participated in an rebellion against King Henry II of England; however, the rebellion failed, and William was captured by the English. In exchange for his release, William was forced to acknowledge Henry as his feudal overlord. The English King Richard I agreed to terminate the arrangement in 1189, in return for a large sum of money needed for the Crusades. William died in 1214, and was succeeded by his son Alexander II. Alexander II, as well as his successor Alexander III, attempted to take over the Western Isles, which were still under the overlordship of Norway. During the reign of Alexander III, Norway launched an unsuccessful invasion of Scotland; the ensuing Treaty of Perth recognised Scottish control of the Western Isles and other disputed areas. Alexander III's death in 1286 brought his three year-old Norwegian granddaughter Margaret to the throne. On her way to Scotland in 1290, however, Margaret died at sea, precipitating a major succession crisis, during which there were thirteen rival claimants. Several Scottish leaders appealed to King Edward I of England to settle the dispute; Edward chose John Balliol. Edward proceeded to treat Balliol as a vassal, exerting considerable influence over Scottish affairs. In 1295, when Balliol renounced his allegiance to England, Edward I invaded and conquered Scotland. During the first ten years of the ensuing Wars of Scottish Independence, Scotland had no monarch; however, it was informally led by the rebel leader William Wallace. After Wallace's execution in 1305, Robert the Bruce took over and declared himself king. Robert's efforts culminated in success, and Scottish independence was acknowledged in 1328. However, only one year later, Robert died, and the English again invaded under the pretext of restoring John Balliol's "rightful" heir, Edward Balliol, to the throne. Nonetheless, during further military campaigns, Scotland once again won its independence under Robert the Bruce's son David II. David II In 1371, David II was succeeded by Robert II, the first Scottish monarch from the House of Stewart (later Stuart). The reigns of both Robert II and his successor, Robert III, were marked by a general decline in royal power. When Robert III died in 1406, regents had to rule the country; the monarch, Robert III's son James I, had been taken captive by the English. Having paid a large ransom, James returned to Scotland in 1424; in order to restore his authority, he used ruthless measures, including the execution of several of his enemies. James II continued his father's policies by subduing influential noblemen. At the same time, however, the Estates of Scotland (the Scottish Parliament) became increasingly powerful, often openly defying the King. Parliamentary power reached its zenith during the reign of the ineffective King James III. As a result,

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