The Prime Minister is the most senior officer of the Government in the United Kingdom (the Kingdom of Great Britain before 1801).
The full title of the current prime minister, Tony Blair, is "Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, and Minister for the Civil Service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Not all prime ministers have been "First Lord of the Treasury" - the last prime minister not to have been First Lord was Lord Salisbury (1895-1902).
|
The Prime Minister remains First Lord of the Treasury, and it is as such, not by virtue of his office as Prime Minister, that he becomes the tenant of No. 10 Downing Street.
|
|
Until the 18th century, the monarch's most senior minister could hold any of a number of titles; usually either First Lord, Lord Chancellor, Lord Privy Seal, or one of the Secretaries of State.
The term "Prime Minister" came to be used during the late 18th century as an unofficial title for this, the most senior minister (as he was the "premier among ministers").
| Originally, the term "Prime Minister" was derogatory, implying that the minister concerned was the puppet of the monarch, which may account for it not being adopted as an official title until early in the 20th century. |
|
The title was not officially recognized until 1905 under King Edward VII when the office was given status within the order of precedence (after the Archbishop of York). The first prime minister to bear the official title was Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1905-1908).
|
The leader of the second largest party in the Commons is termed the 'Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition'.
|
The main responsibilities of the Prime Minister include setting the direction of the government, appointing members of the Cabinet, co-ordinating the activities of the Cabinet and the government departments, participating in ceremonial occasions, and representing (being the 'face' of the government both within the United Kingdom and abroad.
While parliament is in session, 'the lobby' (selected political journalists) attend the Foreign Press Association (or sometimes No. 10 Downing Street itself) twice daily to take part in a question and answer session with the 'Prime Minister's Official Spokesman' (a civil servant with, in theory at least, no political power).
The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman answers questions on behalf of the Prime Minister, and alerts the journalists to events in government which the Prime Minister's office feels should be publicised.
|
The government under Tony Blair (1997) in particular has frequently been accused of governing by "spin" - pandering to and seeking to influence decisions by using the press rather than the House of Commons, particulalry by releasing information to the press which many feel should rightly be presented in parliament first.
|
The Prime Minister is appointed by the Monarch to lead the Monarch's government but, by convention, the Monarch always selects the leader of the political party which holds the majority in the House of Commons.
In the event (a rareity under the British electoral system) that no single party has a simple majority in the Commons but two or more parties form a coalition, the leader of the coalition is chosen.
If the two major parties (Labour or the Conservatives) are evenly matched in the in the Commons and neither can form a coalition with minor parties, then the monarch is free to choose the leader of either party as Prime Minister. In reality that choice would be decided by which, if any, was the outgoing prime minister. A choice cannot be made until the resignation of the outgoing prime minister, at which point whichever was the Leader of the Opposition would be asked to form a government.
Theoretically, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the first among equals in the British Cabinet. In appointing the members of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister includes members of parliament with their own political bases who could potentially rival the Prime Minister. The PM also has very limited powers to appoint members of the civil service (and there is usually tension between the civil servants who are required to remain impartial to elected officials).
In practice, a Prime Minister can dominate the government to fulfill the role of leadership of the executive branch of government and the country in a presidential manner while not carrying out the ceremonial duties of a head of government which are reserved for the Monarch.
Examples of such Prime Ministers are William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal, 1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886 and 1892-1894), David Lloyd George (National Liberal / Coalition government, 1916-1922), Winston Churchill (Conservative / Coalition, 1940-1945 and 1951-1955), Margaret Thatcher (Conservative, 1979-1990) and Tony Blair (Labour, 1997-).
The Prime Minister and the government must resign upon the loss of a vote of confidence or the passage of a vote of no confidence, unless the defeated Prime Minister seeks a dissolution of parliament. Theoretically, the monarch may refuse to dissolve parliament but this does not happen in practice.
In practice, party discipline is usually strong enough to ensure that votes of confidence in the government are rare; there have only been three successful votes of no confidence since 1885.
The Prime Minister must also retain the support of his or her party's parliamentary party. A party may remove a Prime Minister who appears to be unpopular as in the case of Neville Chamberlain (Conservative / National government, May 1940) and Margaret Thatcher (Conservative, November 1990).
The office of Prime Minister originated out of the office of First Lord of the Treasury who was the senior commissioner responsible for administration of the royal treasury when there was no Lord Treasurer (an office which originated in mediaeval times, and ceased to be used after 1714).
It was not until the time of Sir Robert Walpole (usually considered as the first Prime Minister, 1721-1742) that the First Lord of the Treasury became the most powerful minister and became head of government. Previously there had been no clear head of the government and the most powerful minister could hold any one of a number of titles including First Lord of the Treasury and Lord Privy Seal.
There were exeptions even after the time of Walpole, the most powerful minister of the government not always the First Lord of the Treasury. As late as Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1895-1902), was Lord Privy Seal when he served as Prime Minister while Arthur Balfour was First Lord of the Treasury.
| Originally, the term "Prime Minister" was derogatory, implying that the minister concerned was the puppet of the monarch, which may account for it not being adopted as an official title until early in the 20th century. |
Although Sir Robert Walpole is usually considered to be the first Prime Minister
(1721-1742),
the term and conventions regarding the appointment did not originate
until much later. The monarch retained a great deal of discretion over
the appointment of a Prime Minister until Robert Peel's attempt to govern without a majority
in parliament.
The title was not officially recognized until 1905 under King Edward VII when the office was given status within the order of precedence (after the Archbishop of York). The first prime minister to bear the official title was Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1905-1908).
|
| | | Links to Other Pages on this Site
|
| |
| | |
|
| | | Links to Other Sites
|
| |
| | |
Recommend a Book for this Page
Hits on this page since December 6th| Jan | | | | | Feb | | | | | Mar | | |  | | Apr | | | | | May | | | | | Jun | | | | | Jul | | | | | Aug | | | | | Sep | | | | | Oct | | | | | Nov | | | | | Dec | | |  |
| current year: | | previous year: |
No messages posted on this page Only Members of the Site can post messages in this section. Signing in is easy from our Home Page. DISCLAIMER: Whilst we endeavour to ensure the content of this site is correct, we cannot undertake that information you find here, is, or will remain accurate and complete. We do not warrant that any information contained on this site is fit for any purpose. If you wish to place reliance on any such information you must check its accuracy by some other means before doing so. MEMBERS get aditional features on our pages and will soon be able to interact with the site and add their views and informastion. Sign up, from the Home-Page, is simple and involves typing in your email address and a password of your choice. If you are in any way connected with any location or interested in the subject mentioned on this page and have an hour or two a month to spare, we would welcome you as a local moderator - please email the webmaster by CLICKING HERE. Privacy Policy
|
| 
