The Queen and the Prime Minister

The House of Commons

When speaking about General Election, election to the House of Commons is meant. Of its 659 members 529 represent constituencies in England, 40 – in Wales, 72 – in Scotland and 18 – in Northern Ireland (119 MPs are women). The House of Commons is usually meant when speaking about British Parliament. "MP" is addressed only to the members of the House of Commons. So this House is the centre of real political power, most of its members being professional politicians, lawyers, economists, etc.

Opposition, and the Leader of the Opposition is a recognized post The party that has won the General Election makes up the majority in the House of Commons and forms the Government. The party with the next largest number of members in the House (or sometimes a combination of other parties) forms the official in the House of Commons.

The MPs sit on two sides of the hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the opposition. There are seats for only 437 MPs. One of the most important members in the

House of Commons is the Speaker who despite his name is the one who actually never speaks. The Speaker is the Chairman of the House of Commons. He is elected by a vote of the House at the beginning of each new Parliament to preside over the House and enforce the rules of order. He cannot debate or vote. He votes only in case of a tie, i.e. when voting is equal and, in this case he votes with the Government. The main job of the Speaker is to maintain strict control over debates, to keep fair play between the parties, the Government and opposition, between back-benchers and front-benchers. The Speaker is responsible for the organized conduct of business, and is required to act with impartiality between Members in the House. He must forbid grossly insulting language. It is the Speaker who selects MPs to speak and when an MP is about to finish his speech several MPs stand up trying to catch the Speaker's eyes and get his permission to talk. The order of speakers is not arranged in advance, so the tradition of catching the Speakers eye affords him enormous powers either to restrict or to widen criticism of a bill by selecting the "right kind" of MP. The Speaker is assisted by three deputy speakers.

An important function of the Sovereign is the appointment of a prime minister. Normally the appointment is automatic since it is a convention of the constitution that the sovereign must invite the leader of the party which won a majority in the House of Commons to form a government. If no party has a majority or if the party having a majority has no recognized leader, the Queen's duty is to select a prime minister consulting anyone she wishes.

The Queen's closest official contacts are with the Prime Minister whom she receives once every week, when in London, and through him with the Cabinet. She also sees other ministers, generally in order to discuss the affairs of their departments. She sees all the Cabinet papers, the Cabinet agenda, correspondence and other important documents. The Queen is the second after the Prime Minister best informed person in the United Kingdom, as information is one of the important attributes of Queen's power. The Queen is responsible for dissolving Parliament, and this is normally done at the request of the Prime Minister. The appointment or dismissal of ministers is also carried out on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Acts involving the use of "royal prerogative" powers are now performed by government ministers, and the minister is politically responsible for the royal act. The Queen's speech in the Opening of Parliament is prepared by the Prime Minister.

Though the Queen has little direct power she has some rights. Among these rights is the constitutional right to disregard her ministers' advice and this is a strong reserve weapon for the case of need. The Queen is, in fact, the only permanent member of the Cabinet having first-hand knowledge of all its secret papers. Since her accession to the throne the Queen has given audience to 12 Prime Ministers. It is unlikely that the Queen should always be in sympathy with her Prime Minister. And though officially she may not have any political views her silent or other way of approval or disapproval of their actions, which usually are revealed by the press, indicate the Queen’s ability to support or weaken her Prime Minister. With her right to be informed, to warn and to be consulted she can by no means influence state affairs greatly.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-16