I.

The political system and political parties

1. The style of democracy:
a. high respect for the law,
b. few rules and regulations (no IDs, no Freedom of Information Act till 2000, no national service),
c. people have little influence on governing the country.

2. British democracy:
a. constitutional monarchy (monarch = Head of State)
b. parliamentary democracy – queen reigns but does not rule (PM does); the Crown within certain
limits and under control of the Parliament
c. no written constitution (the British so to speak ‘constitution’ operates on:
 precedent
 custom
 conventions
 unwritten rules and assumptions (common sense)
d.freedom limits (anti-terrorist laws; political correctness)

3. British political parties:

a. co-operation among politicians of different parties (the pairing system)
b. two-party system (19th c. – Conservatives and Liberals, nowadays – Conservatives and Labour
Party)
c. strong party discipline
d. emphasis on presentation (spin doctors)
e. main parties:

Name Leaders Policies Voters

Boris Johnson
(July 2019 –) 
‘law and order’ emphasized,
Conservative Party

Theresa May 
strong armed forces to protect British interests
(2016 – 2019 ) 
patriotism emphasized (stressing the great past); Brexit mostly the
David Cameron
(Tories)


free trade at home and abroad; economic freedom, individual richer
(2010 – 2016 ), enterprise sections of
William Hague (1997
– 2001),  less government economic protection and interference society
John Major (laissez-faire) (the south)
(1990 – 1997),  reduction of the welfare state
Margaret Thatcher  breaking the power of the trade unions
(1975 – 1990)
 social justice
 collective well-being and opportunity
Labour Party (New Labour)

 no longer committed to public ownership of national industries

Jeremy Corbyn  no longer committed to the trade unions
(2015 – ) New Labour:
Harriet Harman (2015 acting working
leader May to Sept 2015.)  women voters - seats offered; young and vigorous 40-year-olds; class; a small
Ed Miliband young people – education
middle-class
(2010 – 2015 ),  for the EU and regional and national devolution
intelligentsia
Gordon Brown  civil liberties secured = the Freedom of Information
(the north
(2007 – 2010),  more law and order than before; society blamed for ‘creating’
criminals; criminality stemming from poor social conditions rather and London)
Tony Blair
(1994 – 2007) than individual moral wickedness
 use of market forces; no longer a big borrower or spender –
controlling public spending
 low inflation – sound economic judgment
Mark Pack (2020-), all classes
Democrats
(Lib Dems)

Sir Ed Davey(2019-) but more

 constitutional & electoral reforms (getting rid of the Lords and
Liberal

Baroness Sal Brinton, Jo Swinson,

Sir Vince Cable, Tim Farron form the
Nick Clegg (2007-2015) Monarchy)
middle class
2010-15 coalition  pro-European
government under (undecided
Cameron electorate)
1. The political programme of the Labour Party. Outline. Background reading:
2. The political programme of the Conservative Party. Outline. Britain, by O’Driscoll, unit 6- p.69; unit 8- p.85
 III. The monarchy
1. The theoretical absolute power of the monarch (monarch = Head of State; government, servants
and subjects of the Crown; queen reigns but does not rule (PM does); the Crown within certain
limits and under control of the Parliament.

2. The real role of the monarch:

a) the head of the legal system;
b) commander-in-chief of the armed forces;
c) the head of church of England;
d) can summon and dissolve Parliament;
e) her signature (‘royal assent’) required before a bill becomes the law, she never refuses to
sign the bill passed by Parliament;
f) officially appoints the Prime Minister, the head of a government department, judges,
diplomats, and bishops in the Church of England;
g) gives many important honours and rewards;
h) has the power to declare war and peace;
i) can conclude treaties, annex or cede territory;
j) represents Britain abroad during her annual foreign visits

3. The Queen’s ceremonial role:

a) appears in her carriage in the streets guarded by soldiers
b) takes part in important celebrations (e.g. Trooping the Colour, State Opening of the
Parliament)
c) appears on television
d) delivers annual oration at Christmas
e) gives banquets when visited by foreign monarchs or heads of state
f) her face is on British stamps, bank notes and coins

4. The recent history of the monarchy:

a) 1860s & 70s Queen Victoria remodelled the monarchy to appear as a public symbol of national unity & model
family life - middle and working classes loved it; the State Opening of Parliament and Trooping the Colour
invented at that time
b) George V (attended the first football Cup Final at Wembley stadium; used radio to become popular)
c) 1936 – Abdication Crisis (Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson)
d) George VI and his consort (spouse) Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) didn’t leave Buckingham Palace after the
bombing; they toured bombed parts of London and other cities – great recognition
e) Elizabeth II (Queen since 1952) – no newspaper dared question the reputation of the Royal Family
f) late 1960s – TV programme ‘Royal Family’ (Queen as a conventional middle-class woman in private family
life), the end of privacy
g) Prince Charles (32) married Lady Diana of Windsor (19) in July 1981
h) 1987 - some queen’s children – in a slapstick television show It’s a Royal Knockout (meant to give a more
light-hearted image but loss of dignity)
i) Princess Diana became a glamorous woman, outshining other royals (charitable work, showed her feelings –
loved by the public, detested by the Windsors
j) growing criticism of the cost of maintenance of the Royal Family - more and more expensive lifestyle
k) 1992 - Windsor Castle on fire – not insured, budget money for repairs
l) changes (limited Civil List payments, Queen and Charles – tax on his private assets and income)
m) 1992 - love affairs of royal children (Prince Andrew and Fergie; June 1992 - book Diana: her true story –
Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles revealed, separation); 1995 BBC Panorama interview (Diana
frankly admitted her own adultery with Al Fayette and destructive effect of Charles’s affair); 1996 - divorce;
1997 - Diana killed in a car crash
n) 2005 – Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles
o) 29 April 2011 – Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding (3 children: George, Charlotte, Louis)
p) 19 May 2018 – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding (1 child: Archie)
q) January 2019 – The above couple stopped using their "royal highness" titles; embarked on a more
independent future resigning from being ‘working’ members of the royal family

1.The role of the monarch in the UK. Outline. Background reading:

2.Should the monarchy stay or go? Discuss. Britain, by O’Driscoll, unit 7 – The Monarchy, p.80
The Identity Cards Act 2006 (c 15) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was
repealed in 2010. It created national identity cards, a personal identification document and European
Union travel document, linked to a database known as the National Identity Register (NIR), which has
since been destroyed.

The introduction of the scheme was much debated, and various concerns about the scheme were
expressed by human rights lawyers, activists, security professionals and IT experts, as well as
politicians. Many of the concerns focused on the databases underlying the identity cards rather than
the cards themselves. The Act specified fifty categories of information that the National Identity
Register could hold on each citizen, including up to 10 fingerprints, digitised facial scan and iris scan,
current and past UK and overseas places of residence of all residents of the UK throughout their lives
and indexes to other Government databases (including National Insurance Number) – which would
allow them to be connected. The legislation on this resident register also said that any further
information could be added.

The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition formed after the 2010 general election
announced that the ID card scheme would be scrapped. The Identity Cards Act was repealed by
the Identity Documents Act 2010 on 21 January 2011, and the cards were invalidated with no refunds
to purchasers. Foreign nationals from outside the European Union, however, continue to require an
ID card for use as a biometric residence permit under the provisions of the UK Borders Act 2007 and
the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.

This general lack of compulsory ID remains the case today. Therefore, driving licences,
particularly the photocard driving licence introduced in 1998, along with passports, are now
the most widely used ID documents in the United Kingdom. Nobody in the UK is required to
carry any form of ID. In everyday situations most authorities, such as the police, do not make spot
checks of identification for individuals, although they may do so in instances of arrest. Some banks
will accept a provisional driving licence only from young people, the upper age limit for which varies
from bank to bank, while others will accept it from all ages. (adapted from Wikipedia)

A two-party system is a party system where two major political parties dominate the political
landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and
is usually referred to as the majority or governing party while the other is the minority or opposition
party. Around the world, the term has different senses. For example, in the United States, the sense
of two-party system describes an arrangement in which all or nearly all elected officials belong to one
of the only two major parties, and third parties rarely win any seats in the legislature. In contrast, in
the United Kingdom the term two-party system is sometimes used to indicate an arrangement in
which two major parties dominate elections but in which there are viable third parties which do win
seats in the legislature, and in which the two major parties exert proportionately greater influence
than their percentage of votes would suggest. (adapted from Wikipedia)

In parliamentary practice, the pairing system accounts for an informal arrangement between the
government and opposition parties whereby a member of a legislative body agrees or is designated
by the party whip to be absent from the chamber or abstain from voting while a member of the other
party needs to be absent from the chamber due to other commitments, illness, travel problems, etc.

The member that needs to be absent from their chamber would normally consult with his or her party
whip, who would arrange a pair with his counterpart in the other major party, who as a matter of
courtesy would normally arrange for one of its members to act as the pair. A pairing would usually not
apply for critical votes, such as no-confidence votes. The member abstaining from voting is referred
to as a pair. (adapted from Wikipedia)
Should the monarchy stay or go? Generally in the UK, the most common arguments stack up like
this:

THE MONARCHY SHOULD STAY:

 Link with the glourious past when Britain counted on the international political scene - sense of
continuity.
 The monarchy attracts tourists, who spend more money than it costs.
 The Queen is a non partisan/biased head of state, who could act as a "brake" on the worst
things an elected Government might try to do. (The supporting theory for this is that something
like Nazi Germany could not have happened in Britain, because the monarch would have
started to veto the dictatorship-related legislation).
 Queen as a head of state is more glamorous and prestigious than a president. Official visits –
more splendour; monarchy makes Britain different from most other countries.
 Every country needs a head of state. If there wasn't a monarch, there would need to be an
elected head of state (e.g. a president). Lots of people fear who the British public would elect
as a president!
 Changing a head of state would mean a revolution – the written constitution: clear division of
powers of the President and the PM, separation of church and state , what about royal estates
- who would they belong to?
 Transformation period would be very long and costly.

THE MONARCHY SHOULD GO

 It costs a load of money to keep a monarchy (CIVIL LIST)- if not in terms of paying the royal
family directly, or paying for the upkeep of their houses (those are mostly self-funded by the
family), then certainly in terms of the cost of security for them. The security costs for the royal
family could instead be spent on the alternative head of state.
 It is an anachronism to have an unelected (albeit just a figurehead like the German president,
rather than an executive like the US president) head of state in the 21st century. PM has in
fact more power than the queen.
 The monarchy is also tied to the Church of England, which is effectively the state religion -
which is also anachronistic in a world where less than 10% of the population goes to church,
and where most countries now have separation of church and state.
 The reputation of the royal family is no longer high enough to bring pride - just on the contrary,
various scandals, divorces etc. cause embarrassment to an average British subject
 Tourists would come anyway, there are plenty of other reasons to come to the UK.

TASK - Future of the British monarchy

If you were a British citizen and there was a referendum vote in Britain whether the monarchy
should stay or go, what would you vote for and why? Express your opinion using between
120-200 words (you are allowed to use the above arguments, but you are encouraged to
paraphrase rather than copy the language).