1. An introduction to
British society: British
politics 1
Christina Malcolmson
c.malcolmson@uea.ac.uk

2. Today’s lecture
• A coalition government
• What is Britain anyway?
• Political parties and the role of the Queen
• Post-war changes in Britain
• A divided society?

3. Coalition Government
• David Cameron becomes Prime Minister
• ‘The strong, stable, good and decent
government that Britain needs so badly’
• ‘I believe deeply in public service’
• ‘Together, we can reach better times ahead’

4. The UK Government
• A coalition government:
– a cabinet of a parliamentary government
– several parties cooperate.
• Why?
– no party on its own can achieve a
majority in the parliament
– hung parliament
• UK currently has first coalition
government since 1945.
• May 2010:
– Conservatives went into coalition with
Liberal Democrats
– Did not secure majority of the seats
in the General Election

5. What is Britain anyway?
• The United Kingdom (1801) consists of Great
Britain (1707) (England, Scotland and Wales)
plus Northern Ireland

6. England
Population: 51.5 million
Capital city: London

7. Scotland
Population: 5.2 million
Capital city: Edinburgh
Devolution (transfer of some political
power from London to elected bodies in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
by 1998-9.

8. Wales
Population: 3 million
Capital city: Cardiff

9. Northern Ireland
Population: 1.8 million
Capital city: Belfast
Partition of Ireland:
1921/1922

10. Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland is an
independent nation-state:
• A member of the United
Nations
• A member of the European
Union
•Partition: 1921/1922

11. Political History
political power from all-powerful monarchy to a
national parliament representative of the ordinary
people.
• 1215: King John forced to sign Magna Carta
– shared power with the aristocracy
– cornerstone of British liberties.
• 1275: Model Parliament of Edward I
• Royal dominance in Tutor England (1485-1603)
• Mid-17th C. Charles I rejects parliamentary ideals,
Civil War (1642), Charles beheaded (1649)
• 1660: Charles II restored to throne
• Growing power of English parliament in 17th C led
to more organized political parties.

12. British System of Government
• Extension of vote to all adults
– 1832: 50% of population could
vote
– 1867: 13% of adults (over 21)
could vote
– 1884: 25% of all adults (over 21)
could vote
– 1918: all men over 21; most
women over 30
– 1928: all women over 21
– 1969: all adults over 18

13. The three arms of the state
(executive)
(legislature)
The judiciary - the judges and the courts who
ensure that everyone obeys the laws

14. Ceremonial powers of the monarch
• Britain is a ‘constitutional
hereditary monarchy’
– king or queen is the head of state but has
limited powers.
– Prime Minister and his/her government
(executive) is accountable to the parliament
(legislature).
• Monarch’s roles include:
– Dissolve parliament and call new elections
– Sign new laws or bills passed by the
legislature
– Appoint the Prime Minister
– Open the parliament
– Meet the Prime Minister weekly
– Declare war on advice of ministers

15. UK Parliament
• The Palace of
Westminster.
• Bicameral:
– two houses or
chambers.

16. House of Commons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N50WtWdgTMo&feature=bf_next&list=PL9136F061041B7D74&lf=result
s_video
• Lower chamber, but more authority.
• 650 Members of Parliament (MPs).
• Each MP represents a geographical constituency
– Typically a constituency has 60,000-80,000 voters
– depending on whether it is an urban or rural constituency
• Who can vote:
– Every citizen aged 18 or over can vote once in the
constituency in which they live.
– Voting is not compulsory (as it is in Australia).
– In the last General Election of June 2010, 65% of the
electorate actually voted.

17. House of Commons
• There are not fixed term parliaments.
• A General Election:
– a nationwide election for all 650 seats
– held when the Prime Minister calls it
– the GE cannot be more than five years after the last one
– is usually around four years after the previous.
• The Coalition plans to introduce:
– fixed five-year parliaments
– the next General Election will be on 7 May 2015?
• House of Commons Website

18. House of Lords
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPLCTryRerA
• Upper chamber; less authority.
• Main roles:
– to revise legislation
– checking Government’s activities.
• cannot block the will of the House of Commons.
• No fixed number; currently about 770 members.
• Hereditary peers: Is this democratic?
• Labour Government abolished the right of all but 92 of these hereditary
peers to sit in the House.
• Life peers: chosen by the Queen, on the advice of the Government, to sit
in the House for as long as they live. Currently 629.
• former senior politicians. distinguished figures in education, health and
social policy, Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England.

19. British Political Parties
Ed Miliband
David Cameron
(53rd and youngest
PM)Nick Clegg

20. British Political Parties
• Scottish National Party
• Plaid Cymru
• Northern Irish parties:
– Loyalist:
• Ulster Unionist Party
• Democratic unionist Party
– Nationalist:
• Social Democratic and Labour
Party
• Sinn Fein

21. Practical differences between parties
relate to ideologies
– how to tackle poverty and inequality
– the levels and forms of taxation
– the extent of state intervention in the economy
– the balance between collective rights and
individual rights
• How do you think policy approaches to the
above will be different depending on whether
the government is more right or left wing?

22. Devolved Government
• Devolution: self-government or transfer of some powers
from the Westminster Parliament.
• Allows Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to decide
more of their own affairs.
• Not system of federal government such as US or
Australia.
• Less than one-fifth of UK citizens are covered by Scottish
Parliament, Welsh Assembly, and Northern Ireland
Assembly.
• The three bodies have different powers from one
another.

23. International Perceptions of Britain
• British Council (1999) and Royal Society for the Arts
(2004) survey:
– stereotypical international perceptions about Britain.
• British people seen as:
– Conventional and backward-looking;
– Having an exaggerated and outdated respect for their
history, traditions and institutions.
– perceived through images of monarchy, kilts, castles and
aristocracy.

25. Contemporary Conditions
Britons have long prided themselves on pragmatism and
common sense. The British way of life, an accretion of centuries of
experience in these islands, has largely been based on what works:
the social structures, economic relationships and the framework of
justice. There was never a need for a formal constitution; the law,
evolving in response to changing circumstances, was based on shared
values, general tolerance and a common understanding of rights
and duties.
But in the past 30 years, this complacency has been shaken. A
multicultural Britain can no longer rely for its cohesion on common
background. Devolution, regional nationalism, ethnic division and
religious extremism have so widened the divisions that the old
certainties no longer prevail. What now passes for common sense?
What is the glue holding this disparate society together? What is
Britishness?
(‘Best of Britishness’, The Times, 2 November 2005).

26. We need to take
a look back at
some history

27. By the 19th C., Britain had become a dominant
industrial and naval world power.
The Rhodes Colossus.
Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902)
(Punch cartoon, Oakland)
The question of
‘Britishness’:
•imperial position in the
world.
• all countries of the UK
could share in one
overarching identity?

28. Separation
• Partition of Ireland in 1921/22
• Devolution (transfer of some political power from
London to elected bodies in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland) by 1998-9.
• Fierce debates about:
– the nature of ‘Britishness’
– individual national identities
– the future constitutional structure of the UK
. . . which are still being addressed today.

29. The 2nd World War
• Why did the 2nd World War start?
• When did it finish?
• Which countries were at war?
• How is war expensive?

30. Britain in the 1940s
• Enormous war debt
• Food severely rationed
• In 1948 even bread and potatoes
were rationed - which were not
during the war!
• 1947: $2.7 billion from Marshall
Plan (from the USA)
• Women’s land effort led to more
women in the work place

31. The Post-War years
Clement Attlee--Labour Party
(1945-1951)
• Social levelling of war meant people
wanted change.
• No trust in Conservative government to
tackle socioeconomic and political
problems.
• Election of 1945 returned Labour Party
to power with huge majority.
• Most significant reforming
administration of the 20th century (‘post-
war consensus’)

32. Labour’s changes:
• ‘welfare state’:
– pensions, unemployment benefit
– William Beveridge ‘cradle-to-grave’ social security
– What is a welfare state? We are going to focus on this later in
the course!
• 1948: National Health Service
– To what extent do you have to pay for medical treatment in
your countries?
• Nationalisation 1/5 British economy and major industries;
– state becoming owner of public industries and services such
as electricity, gas, transport.
• Granted independence to India (1947)

33. Other internal reforms include:
–extension of the vote in the
19th and 20th C.
–diminishing power of the
aristocratic House of Lords
–increasing authority of the
popularly elected House of
Commons
–decline of executive monarchy
• Does this mean the Queen has
more or less power?

34. To summarize:
• Since the Second World War (1939-45):
– results of withdrawal from empire
– reduction in world status
– global economic recessions
– decline in economic power
– increased foreign competition
– geo-political world order of
(USA and Soviet Union)
– changing Europe after two
world wars

35. Changes from the 1950s

36. The 1950s
• 1951: Conservatives back in
power
• ‘You’ve never had it so good’
(Winston Churchill)
• Economic prospects on the
upturn
• 1953: Mood of optimism with
coronation of Elizabeth II (the
first such ceremony to be
televised)
• Mass consumerism - TV, cars,
plastic

37. The 1960s
• Immigration into Britain
from its former-colonies;
originally an ‘open door’
policy (ends in 1962).
• 1960s:
– Massive cultural change
– rejection of conformist
and conservative attitudes
– rejection of elitism
– the rise of the celebrity

38. 1970s
• 1972: Continuing violence between Catholics and
Protestants—Gov. imposes direct rule over Northern
Ireland.
• 1972: ‘Bloody Sunday’
• Series of IRA attacks

39. The 1970s
• Period of economic depression.
• 1974: Great strike by coal miners (over
government’s ‘freeze’ on wages). See video.
• Conservatives lose general election, under
Labour, inflation spirals.
• Bitter confrontations between unions and
government
• Commission for Racial Equality 1976

40. 1980s: The ‘Thatcher Revolution’
• ‘Winter of Discontent’ (1978/79): free-
market neoliberalism and privatisation –
What does this mean?
• Confrontational approach on Europe
• Encouraged ‘self-help’; private
enterprise
• Cut back on health, social services, and
education.
• Briefly considered national hero after
Falklands victory
• 1983: Thatcher wins landslide victory in
general election
• 1984-85: Miner’s strikes.
• tight economic control, privatization of
industry and ‘dismantling’ (when
possible) of the Welfare State.

41. The 1990s
• John Major takes over Conservative Party.
• Committed to keeping “Thatcherism” alive.
• Tried to re-focus the Conservative Party on ‘basics’--rule of
law, police, family values, education.
• Main achievements:
– As PM, John Major engaged in the first real negotiations
with Sinn Fein (‘Shin Fane’) to bring about relative peace in
Northern Ireland
– Laying the groundwork for the Good Friday Agreement of
1998, ending thirty years of violence in NI to a certain
extent

42. The Return of Labour, 1997
• Tony Blair wins in May 1997,
ending 18 yrs of Conservative
rule.
• But continued many of the
Conservatives’ policies:
– Deconstruction of the welfare
state
• Devolution for Scotland and
Wales
• Britain becomes a ‘better’
European
• Thatcherism with a human
face?

43. Britain today
• Some say main defining features are:
. . . A healthy diversity and change at all levels.

44. Others say this has led to (esp. since
the 1960s) . . .

45. –social fragmentation
–anti-social behaviour
–weakened sense of
community
–decline in nationally-
accepted values and
identities
–uncertainty
–confusion

46. A Divided Society?
• Some of the current divisions include:
– the influence of London and its relationship to the rest of
the country;
– the cultural distinctiveness and separate identities of
Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England;
– disparities between affluent and economically depressed
areas throughout the country (crime and social
deprivation in inner city);
– alleged cultural and economic gaps between North and
South;
– debates on the positions of women and ethnic
minorities;
– gulf between rich and poor;
– tensions between cities and countryside;
– generational differences between young and old.

47. Is this the real Britain?
• Uncomplimentary view of a
disintegrating society is often
exaggerated by the media and tabloid
newspapers.
• unbalanced, sensational views
• media reporting with the result that
events may be exaggerated beyond
their national importance.
• MORI (Market Opinion Research
International) from 2005 revealed:
– concerns about crime
– the National Health Service
– race relations
– education
• Approach with caution—questions may
influence answers.

48. Is Britain . . .
• a country in terminal
decline?
***Be aware of how your sources
might be biased.
• an evolutionary society
which is coping with the
pressures?

49. Independent study
• Essential Reading:
• Oakland, J., British Civilization. An Introduction, Fourth
Edition, (London: Routledge), 1998:
– Ch 7 (pp. 168-172, Class)
– Ch. 8 (pp. 188-191, Family)
• Revise for Formative Assessment 1 (online progress
test).
– Cornell notes
– Study groups; test each other
– Practise questions
– This test will be used to judge your progress, and write
your UCAS report.