Was Russell Effective?
Was Russell Effective? Russell was an effective Prime Minister by reason of the fact that he was capable in changing issues in Ireland, even though Russell was under the difficult circumstances with a minority in the Commons. Some may comment on Russell not being effective in Ireland, though what they don't see is that Russell was successful in Ireland due to the fact that he had made crucial changes, which help the Irish. He was also able to kept his party content even though he had governed for a six-year period with a minority in parliament. One could argue that Russell was most successful in the changing of Ireland. With the issues concerning Ireland, Russell was able to manage to take most of Peels ideas and develop them into making them better so that they would benefit the Irish. In the time that Russell had spent with issues relating to Ireland he was able to pass a considerable amount of reforms, which had changed life in Ireland altogether. Unlike Peel, Russell was able to change Corn Laws and also as a relief he also sent out £7 000 000. This was a very munificent and generous bequest. This was the beginning of a rein of success for the reason that this had now started to change the Irish citizens opinions of the English. He also tried to remodel the idea of compensation for the people who rented land. This was known as the Tenant Right Bill, which stated that,
Why did the Unionists win the 1900 election and how significant was this victory?
Why did the Unionists win the 1900 election and how significant was this victory? 1900 saw the Conservative Unionists just over half way through their 7-year period in office. The last general election had been called in 1895 so the Unionist had no pressing reason to hold a general election. Salisbury sought to capitalise on the apparent success of the Boer-war by appealing to the public in the form of a Khaki election. With the liberal party in disarray due to a split over the Boer-war and the economy in apparent boom, Salisbury dissolved parliament and called an election. The liberal party split in 1886, over the issue of Irish home rule, had taken away most of the financial backing and given it to the Conservative party which then became known as the Unionists. This meant that when the 1900 election was being fought, the liberal candidates who had previously been supported by the Wealthy land owning Whigs were now struggling to find the funds to support the campaign. As a consequence of this the liberals failed to field candidates in 163 constituencies, which seriously impeded their chances of gaining a majority in the House of Lords. The party was again split in 1899 with the Boer-war, with the party divided between 'Pro-Boers' like Lloyd George and radical imperialists with Campbell Bannerman left in the middle. This again left the Liberals open to criticism from the
Constitution - Sources and Codified Debates
Constitution Questions What is a constitution? A constitution is an authoritative set of laws and practices specifying how a state is to be governed and the relationship between the state and the individual. A constitution can be written (codified) or unwritten (uncodified) and provides the framework for the political system. The UK's constitution is uncodified and determines where sovereignty resides within the state. Explain, using examples, the sources of the UK constitution. Due to the UK's uncodified constitution we have to look for the key rules of the political system in different places. One source of the UK constitution is statute law which is law created by Parliament. There have been many recent examples of statute law that were of major constitutional significance, including the Scotland Act (19980 which created a Scottish Parliament, the Human Rights Act (1998) and the House of Lords Act which looked at removing hereditary peers. Statute law is considered the most important source of the principles and rules making up the UK constitution. Another source of the UK constitution comes from works of authority, although they have no legal authority they help with interpretation. An example of one of these works is Erskine Mays (1844) work which is regarded as the 'Bible' of parliamentary practice as it is such a detailed work. Another example is A.V. Dicey's
The Labour Party.
Political Parties 2002 ~ Research Project The Labour Party Brief history of Party: * The Labour Party was founded in 1900 after several generations of preparatory trade unions. * It elected 29 members to parliament in 1906 and in the two elections of 1910 it elected 40 and 42 members. * In 1924 it formed its first government, with Ramsay MacDonald as prime minister, nevertheless the government only lasted a few months but in 1929 they were re-elected. * In 1945 it won an overwhelming electoral victory where Attlee became prime minister for the party's first majority government. * During the time of their opposition in power i.e. the conservatives in 1955 and 1959, the part almost split between right and left during this time. Then when Attlee retired the right-winger, Hugh Gaitskell became the party leader. * Harold Wilson then became party leader after Gaitskell's death in 1963, where he was able to lead the party to victory in 1964. * The party lost power to the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher in the 1979 elections and remained in the opposition until late 1997. * When Michael Foot became party leader in 1980, the party moved sharply to the left but the party split with the SDP formed and leaving some left-wingers left over, the party faced a crushing defeat in the 1983 election. * Michael Foot then resigned and was succeeded by Neil Kinnock where Kinnock
A Codified Constitution?
Politics 'There is no convincing case for a written constitution in Britain' A constitution establishes the rules and principles that govern an organisation. Constitutions are found in many political organisations in government at several levels; in political parties, pressure groups and trade unions. A constitution distributes power within the political system and defines the limits and rights of the government and its citizens. It also defines the nature of citizenship and describes the sovereign territory governed by the constitution. Furthermore, a constitution should define relationships with external bodies and establish how the constitution itself can be amended. Britain's constitution is flexible, meaning policies can be altered via the law making process. This signifies more power for government as it is easier to change laws as they are seen as less fundamental. Our constitution is also unitary, meaning Parliament and Westminster make the laws for all of the UK. Some parts of the UK, for example Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have limited power to make decisions on small changes such as education and congestion charges. In addition to this, the UK constitution is uncodified, meaning it is unwritten. When a constitution is unwritten it means the terms are unclear and the details are more vague as the laws and policies are not all gathered in one legal
Politics task
. What is a Referendum? A referendum is a form of direct democracy but a referendum is rarely used in British Politics. In most issues, as befits representative democracy, the government decides policy after Parliamentary debates etc. Referendums put the onus on the voter in what is essentially a 'yes' or 'no' choice. There have been overall 8 referendums called, 7 local and only one national, in 1975 on should the UK stay in the EU. 2. Using two Example how referendums can introduce change at the national and local political level? Two examples of how referendums have introduced change at national level is Membership of the EU (1975) and at a local level is The Mayor of London (1998) at political levels. They have done this but changing how something is ran. At the national level the membership of the EU (1975) introduces political change as it show that the people wanted the UK to be a member of the EU. This referendum was called by Harold Wilson (prime mister of the time) of the labour party, to see if the people wanted to be in the EU, though this referendum can be seen as only being called as he know he would win it and it would unify the party on the matter of Europe. This introduce change as the government know where to stand on the matter of be a member of the EU and that could move forward on this matter and that the government could introduce the EU constitution
To what extent has the post of Prime minister become more presidential?
Hannah Quincey October 2003 To what extent has the post of Prime minister become more presidential During the post war period of the last fifty years there has been a perception that British prime ministers have become increasingly presidential and the two individuals connected with this thinking are Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Many commentators have argued and debated Thatcher's role as PM in a time where many consider cabinet government to have weakened creating a stronger and more powerful prime minister. However there has also been evidence to suggest that between 1958-63 Harold Macmillan displayed presidential tendencies when he took to running British foreign policy almost single handedly and enjoyed a remarkable relationship with the media. In contrast to this both Jim Callaghan (1976-79) and John Major (1990-1997) appeared to return to the traditional cabinet. This illustrates that there has not been a constant and progressive line towards presidency. Key to this question, is that definitions of presidency are in effect based upon personality opposed to substance, as Dennis Kavanagh has implied this in his studies of Thatcher, "Mrs Thatcher's success as a Prime Minister illustrates the importance of the office holders personality rather that institutional change"1 When discussing presidency the American model is preferred, as it is the most dominate
The relationship between the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
PM and Cabinet a) Define the terms 'collective responsibility' and 'individual ministerial responsibility'. b) Explain why these concepts are important. 2a) Describe the main powers of the Prime Minister. 2b) Choose any 2 of these powers and explain why they are important. a) 'Collective responsibility' and 'individual ministerial responsibility' are terms applied to members of the Cabinet. This is the British executive, the group of ministers responsible for implementing government policy. 'Collective responsibility' is a convention, entailing the fact that all Cabinet ministers share responsibility for any decisions made by the Cabinet. Therefore, even if they are not in personal agreement, as a group of ministers, they have to show unanimous support. For example, with the current war on Iraq, Clare Short, the International Development minister, publicly declared her personal views against the war, but to remain a member of the Cabinet, she had to accept the decision and therefore is responsible along with the rest of the Cabinet for the decision. Conversely, Robin Cook, the former Leader of the Commons, resigned his post as he felt he could not comply with the convention, as his personal views were too strong. Collective responsibility also means that all the members of the Cabinet have a right to be present when decisions are made and have the right to make their
To what extent did Wilson's achievements as Prime minister and leader of his party outweighs his failures between 1963 and 1976?
To what extent did Wilson's achievements as Prime minister and leader of his party outweighs his failures between 1963 and 1976? Wilson's achievements as Prime minister outweighs his failures as he was able to get Labour into power after a phenomenal thirteen years of Conservative rule. His main achievement as Labour leader was to get the party into power in 1964. He did this by making the party respectable and untied. This was achieved not only by his own hard work, but the failures of the Conservative government, such as not joining the E.E.C. and there being a continuous rise in unemployment. He also promised so much in his manifesto, such as the 'White Heat of Technology', which was to endorse money into scientific projects to hopefully increase Britain's potential competitiveness in trade on a worldwide scale. Although Wilson was unable to fulfil his promise of the 'White Heat of Technology' as all the proposed research went into 'arms' and Concorde projects. This was due to opposition from civil servants of the Treasury, who would not allocate money to the Prime Ministers for his proposed developments. Wilson's character also enabled him to gain power in the 1964 election, as he was young, charismatic and 'fresh' compared to Macmillan who was considered part of the establishment and out of touch with the young electoral. This seemed to be a big achievement as the
According to British constitutional theory Parliament is sovereign. How far is this really the case in the UK today?
AS Politics According to British constitutional theory Parliament is sovereign. How far is this really the case in the UK today? Parliamentary sovereignty suggests that parliament has all the power within a state, so to say that it is above all other institutions. I feel that, constitutionally, the answer is clear; parliament is sovereign, since it is the only institution elected by the people, the people's representative. There are many aspects of parliamentary sovereignty that can justify why it is in fact sovereign, such as the executive is fused with the legislature since members of the government are traditionally members of either house of parliament. Also the government gets legitimacy for its actions from its majority in the House of Commons whilst at the same time one of the functions of parliament is to make the executive accountable or answerable at the very least for its decisions and policies. This is as well as the party with the majority of MPs in the House of Commons forms the government, its leader becomes the PM and constitutional tradition and practice ensures that this majority delivers extensive political power and significant control of both parliament's authority and the power privileges associated with the monarch. An example of parliamentary sovereignty is that even though the Prime Minister can use the royal prerogative to negotiate treaties,
