The Queen and the Prime Minister

FUNCTIONS AND POWERS

The monarch in law is the head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature, the head of the judiciary, the commander-in chief of all the armed forces of the Crown and the temporal governor of the established Church of England. But the Crown is only sovereign by the will of parliament and the Queen acts on the advice of her ministers which she cannot constitutionally ignore. And in most matters of state, the refusal of the Queen to exercise her power according to the direction of her Prime Minister would risk a serious constitutional crises. That's why it is often said that the monarch reigns but does not rule.

Nevertheless, the functions of the monarch are politically important. The powers of the monarch are to summon, prorogue (suspend until the next session) and dissolve parliament; to give royal assent to legislation passed by parliament.

The Queen is the «fountain of justice* and as such can, on the advice of the Home Secretary, pardon or show mercy to convicted criminals.

As the «fountain of honour* the Queen confers peerages, knighthoods and other honours. She makes appointments to many important state offices. She appoints or dismisses Government ministers, judges, governors, members of diplomatic corps. As Commander-in-Chief of the armed services (the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force) she appoints officers, and as temporal head of the established Church of England she makes appointments to the leading positions in the Church.

In international affairs as Head of State the Queen has the power to conclude treaties, to declare war and to make peace, to recognize foreign states and governments, and to annex and cede territories.

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 the Queen is 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. That's why the Queen's Speech in Opening Parliament is prepared by the Prime Minister and contains the outline of the programme for the session. That is why it is also said that the Queen has duties and rights but has no power. Of her many rights the most important are the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn. And with them the monarch has a good deal more power than is commonly supposed.

The Queen has the «constitutional right» in certain circumstances 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 twelve 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 undermine 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: 2015-05-26