The System of Government

The government consists of the ministers appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is appointed directly by the Crown and is the leader of the political party which has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government, he is always a Member of the House of Commons. He consults and advises the Monarch on government business, supervises and coordinates the work of the various ministers and departments in the House of Commons. He also makes recommendations to the Monarch on many important public appointments.

The most senior members of the Government are known as the Cabinet. The Cabinet is the nucleus of the Government. All major decisions of the Government are made by the Cabinet, and therefore it is the Cabinet which forms Government policy.

Who chooses the Cabinet? Members of the Cabinet are chosen by the Prime Minister. The majority of the members of Mr. Blair’s Cabinet are drawn from the House of Commons. But there are always a few members from the House of Lords. All the members of Mr. Blair’s Cabinet belong to the Labour Party. The Labour Party gained the right to form a Government by winning the general election in May 1997. Mr. Blair, the leader of the Labour Party, became Prime Minister. He selected a team of Ministers to serve in his Government. A Cabinet must be large enough to include senior ministers. There is no limit on the size of the Cabinet but the number of the salaried Secretaries of state is limited to 21. Cabinet meetings usually held on a Thursday morning in the Cabinet room 10 Downing Street.

The United Kingdom has no Ministry of Justice. Responsibility for the administration of the judicial system in England and Wales is divided between the courts themselves, the Lord Chancellor, and the Home Secretary. The Lord Chancellor is responsible for the composition of the courts, civil law, parts of criminal procedure and law reform in general; the Home Secretary is responsible for the prevention of criminal offences, trial and treatment of offenders and for the prison service.

2. Fulfill the tasks based on the text “The System of Government”: