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Her Majesty's Government
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[edit] Structure
Her Majesty's Government (His Majesty's Government whilst the Sovereign is a King) is the term for the executive authority of the United Kingdom. The Government includes ministerial departments, headed by politicians, and non-ministerial departments, headed by civil servants. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government. Other officers include Secretaries of State, Ministers of State, Parliamentary Secretaries and other persons.
[edit] Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is the head of the Government and holds the post of First Lord of the Treasury. The appointment of the Prime Minister is controlled by several conventions. One of the most important conventions is that the Prime Minister must retain the confidence (or support) of the House of Commons. Whenever the office of Prime Minister is vacant, the Sovereign appoints someone else to that office, often a member of the House of Commons, but it is within their power to appoint someone from the House of Lords or from outside Parliament.(However, it has been, and remains, a Convention of the Constitution for over 100 years, that the PM must be a member of the House of Commons, any Monarch attempting to appoint a Lord, or a person from outside parliament would be seriously jeopardising the very existence of the monarchy. See Sir Alec Douglas Hume) This person is often the leader of the largest party in the Commons; in some cases, however, the largest party does not form a majority. If there is no single party with a majority, then a coalition of parties may have to be formed.
The Prime Minister holds office until resignation. The Prime Minister must resign if the House of Commons passes a motion of no-confidence. Furthermore, if the Commons reject a major piece of legislation, the Prime Minister must resign. Alternatively, the Prime Minister could ask for a dissolution of Parliament, which is by convention granted by the Sovereign. One should note that, even after a dissolution of Parliament, the Prime Minister still continues to hold office. Dissolutions are sometimes timed so as to increase the Government's chances of winning a majority in the House of Commons. If the Prime Minister still retains a majority, then he remains in office, but if another party wins a majority, then its leader may be appointed Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister is an extremely powerful head of government; the post has often been compared to an "elected dictatorship." (Note , however, the PMs power depends on a number of factors, and PMs can be very powerful or simply 'primus inter pares')The Cabinet normally does not challenge the Prime Minister since they can be easily dismissed. In Parliament, the House of Commons may be unable to overrule the Government due to the "whipping" system, whereby members who disregard certain party directives may be expelled from the party. The term "whip" arises from the underlining, or whipping, of items on party agendas handed out to members. A one-line whip indicates that there are no special restrictions on the vote; a two-line whip indicates an expectation for MPs to vote in a certain manner; three-line whips indicate that a member may be expelled for voting against the wishes of the party, or even failing to attend the session.
[edit] Cabinet
Other officers and departments are appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. Most of members of the Cabinet - the body of senior politicians heading ministerial departments - officers are from the House of Commons, but some, such as the Lord Chancellor, are from the House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor is responsible for the nation's judicial system. (But see the 2005 Judicial Reform Act which changes all this.) Another important officer is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who also holds the post of Second Lord of the Treasury. The Chancellor is responsible for Her Majesty's Treasury, another name for which is the Exchequer. Other Cabinet officers are generally known as Secretaries of State, as in Secretary of State for Defence or Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. (The exact titles and number of departments, however, may differ from one Prime Minister's Government to the next.) The next level is that of Minister of State, followed by Parliamentary Secretary. These positions, however, may not be of Cabinet level.
Ministers hold their posts until dismissal or resignation. They are bound by two conventions: cabinet collective responsibility and individual Ministerial responsibility. The former requires that Cabinet Ministers must publicly support Government policy, even if they disagreed with it in private cabinet meetings. Ministers who wish to openly disagree with Government policy must resign, for example Robin Cook over the War in Iraq. Individual Ministerial responsibility means that all ministers are accountable and responsible to Parliament for all actions taken by their departments. So a minister must resign if there is overwhelming criticism of his/her department's work, even if it was the result of an action by a civil servant. See Stephen Byers and the Jo Moore case, or Blunkett and the visa case. Furthermore, if a motion of no-confidence is passed by the House of Commons, all ministers must resign. In addition, a Prime Minister may choose to have the Sovereign dismiss a minister, or to conduct a Cabinet "reshuffle", under which ministers are reassigned to different departments.
[edit] Privy Council
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a ceremonial body of advisors to the Sovereign. The Sovereign appoints all Privy Counsellors, who hold office for life and may use the style of Right Honourable. Normally, appointees include senior members of the Royal Family, all members of the Cabinet, some senior ministers who are not part of the Cabinet, leaders of recognised Parliamentary Parties, archbishops and senior bishops of the Church of England and certain senior judges. The Privy Council is headed by the Lord President of the Council, who is a member of the Cabinet. By convention, the post of Lord President is combined with that of Leader of the House of Commons or Leader of the House of Lords. At meetings of the Council, the Queen-in-Council may issue executive Orders. These Orders are read aloud by the Lord President; the Sovereign then merely says "Agreed." The meetings are merely ceremonial and are often extremely short.
