Political life

Сентябрь 15, 2022

Содержание

2. Introduction the British – show little enthusiasm for politics stereotypical view of politics: necessary evil, dirty
3. BCKGROUND INFO A key fact to the character of British politics > Britain has not been
4. Key developments The main historical development > shift of power from an absolute monarch to a
5. “Corridors of Power” The style of British politics – marked by the respect for privacy and
6. Conservatives Traditionally – a party representing and defending British institutions (from parish to palace) In the
7. Conservatives II 1979 – Heath ousted out by Margaret Thatcher > a stark break in the
8. Conservatives III Three subsequent leaders – not strong enough to win elections William Hague – intelligent
9. Cameron's Conservatives David Cameron – elected Tory leader in 2005 on a mandate to change and
10. Labour In the early 1960s – Labour is still a movement as much as a party,
11. Fall and rise During the years of Thatcherism – Labour in political wilderness > the party
12. Jeremy Corbyn Unexpectedly elected Labour Leader in 2015 A lifetime backbench rebel and street protester left-wing
13. Mocked by corporate press
14. … popularity among grassroots voters
15. Other parties Liberal Democrats (LibDem) – formed in 1988 by merging of the Social Democratic Party
16. The mavericks – BNP and UKIP The British National Party (BNP) > far-right populist party with
17. The Cabinet The Cabinet – formed after the General Election “First-past-the post” election system (the “winner
18. Decline in Cabinet's role Increasing role of the Prime Minister at the expense of Cabinet members
19. Cabinet members Usually highly unrepresentative of the rest of the nation; members of small closed groups
20. The Civil service - function the permanent professional bureaucracy supporting and advising HM's Government; established in
21. Changes in Whitehall's power Combining loyalty with independent expertise > difficult during premierships of more dictatorial
22. Britain’s international relations With the Commonwealth of Nations (a loose association of Britain’s former colonies) Nowadays,
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Слайд 2

Introduction
the British – show little enthusiasm for politics
stereotypical view of politics:

necessary evil, dirty business
politicians – regarded with suspicion; it is assumed that they are not telling the truth
Popular quote: Never trust anything until it has been officially denied.
In recent years, the public trust in politicians has dropped dramatically due to various corruption scandals (“cash for honours“ scandal under Blair, MPs expenses scandal under Gordon Brown)
> general disillusionment with institutions that were once considered the pillars of the liberal and democratic British system > a crisis of the political establishment

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BCKGROUND INFO
A key fact to the character of British politics >

Britain has not been invaded and occupied since 1066 > development through gradual change and reform based on consensus, rather than through revolutionary events
A major feature > the British political system is not very neat or logical; much of it is based on custom and tradition; there is a great deal of pragmatism involved
There is no written constitution! Instead, three sources serve its purpose:
All the laws and decrees made over the centuries (Common Law)
The way these laws have been interpreted and re-interpreted in Law Courts
The way things have been done over the centuries, though not written down

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Key developments
The main historical development > shift of power from an

absolute monarch to a parliament increasingly representative of and accountable to the general population (the bicameral Parliament > from 14th century; a model to parliaments elsewhere)
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland > have their own representative assemblies with a wide range of powers ( = devolution)

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“Corridors of Power”
The style of British politics – marked by the

respect for privacy and secrecy
important decisions – not taken at large meetings, but at lunches, over drinks or accidental encounters in the corridors of power > things decided before discussed officially
The layout of the Westminster Palace – mirrors this practice > incredibly complex, allowing the unofficial encounters to take place

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Conservatives
Traditionally – a party representing and defending British institutions (from parish

to palace)
In the past two centuries, they have cleverly combined the appearance of traditionalism with adaptability to changing environment (aristocratic facade combined with middle-class businessmanship)
After Churchill's defeat in 1945, the party reinvented itself under Harold Macmillan
Despite the patriarchal image of his government, Macmillan
was moving his party to the left
retreat from the Empire
moving towards Europe
promising a good living standard to ordinary Britons
After the subsequent defeats by Wilson's Labour Party, the Tories came back under Ted Heath (a carpenter's son) > beginning of a big rift in the party
the traditional Tory grandees and landowners
the “new“, more egalitarian Tories, embracing European integration,business competition and meritocracy

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Conservatives II
1979 – Heath ousted out by Margaret Thatcher > a

stark break in the Conservative party philosophy, a move towards the policy of personal domination
Thatcher – spoke the language of Churchillian patriotism but her real belief was in American-style individualism and moneymaking
Little respect towards institutions
“She cannot see an institution without hitting it with her handbag“ -MP Julian Critchley
As a strong leader – Thatcher became less and less accountable to her party > her domineering tendencies finally contributed to her fall
Under John Major – the crisis in the Conservative Party deepens
as the weak PM is unable to offer a new vision of the party that
would match the youthful Tony Blair's rebrand of Labour

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Conservatives III
Three subsequent leaders – not strong enough to win elections
William

Hague – intelligent but lacking media image and charisma
Iain Duncan Smith – from the right-wing section of the Tories; too weak to keep his split party unified
Michael Howard – capable and resolute but mocked over his Romanian roots (nicknamed “Dracula“)
His anti-immigration stance also proved controversial

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Cameron's Conservatives
David Cameron – elected Tory leader
in 2005 on

a mandate to change and
modernize the party (“compassionate
conservatism“)
His original agenda:
social justice and social action
environmentalism
more women and ethnic minority candidates standing for the Conservative Party, support of gay marriage
After becoming head of the Coalition government in 2010 > his policies changed > the priority became reducing the budget deficit > this gave rise to massive welfare cuts (= austerity), causing increase in poverty and homelessnes
Under his premiership > Britain votes to leave the EU in a referendum in 2006

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Labour
In the early 1960s – Labour is still a movement as

much as a party, with ideals of socialism attracting workers
and left-wing intellectuals
Strongly tied to Trade Unions (in finance as well as membership)
The gap between the TU members and Labour's intellectual leaders (many Oxford-educated) - increasingly widening
Despite its Socialist agenda – Labour is not a revolutionary party; even more reluctant to embrace change (especially in economy and industry) than the Tories
The underlying fear - of factory closure and job losses
> the opposition of its members to modernization
brought about the industrial chaos of the 1970s
and Labour's subsequent defeat

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Fall and rise
During the years of Thatcherism – Labour in political

wilderness > the party fails to find a new voice as the country is swept by Thatcherism and rising consumerism
Leaders – Michael Foot, (hard left), Neil Kinnock, John Smith (both more moderate)
1994 > Tony Blair a new leader, transforming Labour from a party comitted to socialism and public ownership into a centrist, free-market party > election victory in 1997

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Jeremy Corbyn
Unexpectedly elected
Labour Leader in 2015
A lifetime backbench rebel and

street protester
left-wing humanitarian
against war + Western expansionism
(Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria)
against corporate capitalism
Strong emphasis on equality and caring for the society’s vulnerable

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Mocked by corporate press

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… popularity among grassroots voters

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Other parties
Liberal Democrats (LibDem) – formed in 1988 by merging of

the Social Democratic Party and Liberals
Ideology – a mixture of include social democracy, green liberalism, civil libertarianism, internationalism, community politics
Voted for by middle-class, university-educated population
Its popularity has been in decline since it formed a Coalition government with Cameron’s Conservatives in 2010
UKIP (UK Independence Party)
started as a single-issue party (to effect UK's withdrawal from EU)
Under leadership of Nigel Farage - it adopted a wider agenda
Ideology – mixture of national conservatism and economic liberalism (free trade, flat tax rate)
against political correctness and multiculturalism but also rejecting nationalism based on ethnicity > advocating “uniculturalism“ (a single British culture embracing all races and religions)
Farage – an outspoken critic of the EU, his speeches in the European Parliament are famous
The Green Party (a liberal left party with green agenda)
The national parties (Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, Democratic Unionist Party) > representing the interest of other regions beside England

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The mavericks – BNP and UKIP
The British National Party (BNP) >

far-right populist party with an aim to restore the “overwhelmingly white ethnicity of Britain that it says existed prior to 1948 through legal means“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party
Voters – mainly working-class people disillusioned with the failure of mainstream parties to address immigration and job losses for British vorkers > “protest vote“
Leader: Nick Griffin

UK Independence Party > started as a single-issue party (to effect UK's withdrawal from EU)
Under current leadership of Nigel Farage - it adopted a wider agenda
Ideology – mixture of national conservatism and economic liberalism (free trade, flat tax rate)
Against political correctness and multiculturalism but also rejecting nationalism based on ethnicity > advocating “uniculturalism“ (a single British culture embracing all races and religions)

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The Cabinet
The Cabinet – formed after the General Election
“First-past-the post” election

system (the “winner takes all”) > the party winning in the majority of constituencies forms Her Majesty’s government, other parties go into opposition
Cabinet members – some 22 key government
secretaries
Meetings – every Tuesday at Downing Street
in the so-called Cabinet Room
The Cabinet – functions on the principle of collective responsibility > the ministers required to be loyal to Prime Minister, not showing their differences of opinion (in US cabinet disagreements are allowed)
Once they openly disagree, they are expected to resign (such as Labour ministers Robin Cook and Clare Short did in 2003 after refusing to support Britain's war on Iraq)

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Decline in Cabinet's role
Increasing role of the Prime Minister at the

expense of Cabinet members
Originally, the PM was only „primus inter pares“ - first among the most important government officials
However, in a trend started by Thatcher and continued by Blair > the PM is now assuming almost presidential powers
One effect of this > decisions taken with the help of unelected advisers rather than discussed with Cabinet colleagues or in the House of Commons

Lack of talent among cabinet ministers
The pool of talent for choosing govt members > too limited to find enough able personalities
Many leading businessmen – have complained about this:
“For the purposes of government, a country of 55 million people is forced to depend on an overworked talent pool which could not sustain a single multinational company“ Sir John Hoskyns, a computer tycoon;
An American President – can choose whomever he wants to have in his Cabinet; a British PM can only choose from among the MPs

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Cabinet members
Usually highly unrepresentative of the rest of the nation; members

of small closed groups
Macmillan's cabinet – full of Old Etonians and aristocrats
Wilson's – Oxbridge academics and economists
Thatcher's – many businessmen
Blair's – from more diverse class backround, but most were from the North or Scotland > the most populous South East barely represented
Many of Blair's ministers – professional politicians rather than experts in particular fields
Owing to frequent reshuffles – they did not get to know their resort properly
Few of them were down-to-earth people with a sense of the ordinary voter's needs, contrary to Attlee's requirement:
„You've got to have a certain number of solid people whom no one would think particularly brilliant, but who between conflicting opinions can at as middlemen, give you the ordinary man's view.“ (quoted in Sampson, 92)
No real spokesman for workers or trade unions > almost complete insulation from the electorate

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The Civil service - function
the permanent professional bureaucracy supporting and

advising HM's Government; established in mid-19th century
Civil servants (colloquially called “mandarins“) – guardians of state continuity
Ministers often change posts > not enough time to gain expertise of their entrusted fields
On the contrary – civil servants understand the complex apparatus of administration, so their advice is invaluable
Their permanent position > they are loyal to their ministers regardless of party membership
Historically, some civil servants have been more powerful than Cabinet ministers (as seen from the figure of Humphrey Appleby of Yes, Minister)
Their position: difficult, as they have to combine
loyalty with independent judgment

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Changes in Whitehall's power
Combining loyalty with independent expertise > difficult during

premierships of more dictatorial PMs
Thatcher > weakened the Civil Service
politicizing it and making sure its representatives agreed with her
attempting to introduce business management methods into the traditional environment
Blair – continued with the process of politicization
Result: the quality of the Whitehall staff decreased as opposed to the 1960s and 70s.
The civil servants – suffer from loss of self-confidence and status
Another threat to the Civil Service > commercialization and increasing interconectedness between government administration and business
many Civil Service heads move to boards of big corporations (Shell, ICI, HBSC, BskyB)
They get involved in the companies they were originally supposed to oversee
They become mixed up with corporate executives

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Britain’s international relations
With the Commonwealth of Nations (a loose association of

Britain’s former colonies)
Nowadays, these ties are mostly cultural, rooted in shared history
With the European Union > a troubled relationship; Britain joined the European Community in 1973 but was always a reluctant member
areas of discord: immigration, asylum, common agricultural policy
right now, Brexit is underway (the soft version likely to succeed as opposed to hard Brexit which would involve total disconnection from the common market and other ties)
With the United States of America
A tradition of a “special relationship” give by the common heritage
For much of 20th century history – Britain was economically dependent of the USA (both world wars and the post-war period)
Britain – America’s crucial ally (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria)
The submissive attitude of Britain to the USA – often criticized (Tony Blair – portrayed as “Bush’s poodle”)
With other countries > recent focus on China as the UK looks for new markets

Political life

Содержание

Introductionthe British – show little enthusiasm for politicsstereotypical view of politics:

BCKGROUND INFOA key fact to the character of British politics >

Key developmentsThe main historical development > shift of power from an

“Corridors of Power” The style of British politics – marked by the

ConservativesTraditionally – a party representing and defending British institutions (from parish

Conservatives II1979 – Heath ousted out by Margaret Thatcher > a

Conservatives IIIThree subsequent leaders – not strong enough to win electionsWilliam

Cameron's Conservatives David Cameron – elected Tory leader in 2005 on

LabourIn the early 1960s – Labour is still a movement as

Fall and riseDuring the years of Thatcherism – Labour in political

Jeremy CorbynUnexpectedly elected Labour Leader in 2015A lifetime backbench rebel and