The English Election System :: essays research papers

The English Election System Once the Queen has appointed a person to the office of Prime Minister, he can remain in office only for so long as he has majority support in the House of Commons. If he is defeated there, he may resign and leave the Queen looking for a new one. According to law the period between general elections must never be more than five years. Within these five years the Prime Minister may choose the date for a general election, this gives him and his party a great advantage, because then he can choose a time when the opinion is high for his party. The Government A Brittish Government consists of the Prime Minister and other ministers, all of whom are collectively responsible for every part of the Government ´s administration. The ministers are all choosed by the Queen, but they are choosed entirely on the PM ´s advice. All the ministers must be members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, and a minister may only speak in the house of which he is a member. Some of the ministers and the offices have special titles such as the "Minister of Agriculture" and as the "Chancellor of the Exchequer. A politicial assistant to a minister is called, for example, the "Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture". If the Minister ´s title is "Secretary of State" his assistant is called for example, of "Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland". The Cabinet consists of the heads of the most important Departments together with a few ministers without departments. The PM decides which ministers will be included, but there is some, like the Foreign Secretary, whom he could not leave out. The number of members has varied in peacetime between 15-23. The Government is a wider term including ministers, ministers of state and junior ministers, plus 4 legal members and about twelve Government whips. The PM lives and works at No. 10 Downing Street. This is a pretty large house in a small street off Whitehall, where many of the departments have their offices, a very short distance from the Houses of Parliament. One of the rooms in the PM ´s house is the Cabinet-Room. This is where the Cabinet-Members meets usually once a week, but sometimes more often. The Cabinet itself is not recognized by any former law and it has no formal powers, but only real powers. It takes the effective