British Political System

"Wherefore we will and firmly order that the English Church be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably, freely and quietly, fully and wholly, for themselves and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all respects and in all places forever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been taken, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all these conditions aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without evil intent. Given under our hand - the above named and many others being witnesses - in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign."

- Final article of Magna Carta

""Since 1832 we have been gradually excluding the voter from government.""

- Sir Humphrey Appleby, Yes, Prime Minister

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy, meaning that it is officially "ruled" by a monarch whose powers are controlled by constitutional law. In reality, the monarch is a powerless symbolic figurehead and the country is governed by its legislature: a Parliament made up by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Although Britain has a parliamentary system and the Prime Minister, the de facto head of government, is supposed to simply be the executive of a ruling political party, some recent Prime Ministers, notably Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, have tended towards a "Presidential" executive style of rule. More concisely, the monarch is head of state while the prime minister is the head of government compared to a nation like the US where the head of state and head of government are the same person.

An extremely important thing to note about the British government is that it is more or less synonymous with Parliament (the Civil Service notwithstanding): all authority flows from Westminster. Beyond that, Parliament theoretically holds absolute power: any law passed by Parliament may be repealed by Parliament at any time for any reason. This setup is a result of the English Civil War (1641–51), the result of which was the monarchy handing over all its power (which in the Tudor era had been de facto absolute) to Parliament—a process helped by the fact that George I and II barely spoke English and didn't much care for governing Britain anyway—and incidentally resembles Thomas Hobbes' conception of government. In any case, though this sounds rather scary at first—in theory, British liberty could be dead with a single Act of Parliament—the UK's membership in the EU and its institutions, as well as a couple of other well-enforced treaties, have added a measure of restriction to the actions of Parliament; for the first time, Parliament has to deal with potentially making illegal laws.

The House of Commons
The House of Commons is staffed by Members of Parliament (MPs) who are elected by each constituency. These are similar to a Congressional district in the US—a large city will have multiple constituencies. A constituency is represented by a single MP. Each of these constituencies will have an individual name. Every decade or so, the boundaries are re-drawn by the non-partisan Boundary Commission, which does take representations from the parties.

The House of Commons is elected for a period of 5 years (elections used to be called at any earlier time at the Prime Minister's whim, but this practice has been recently abolished in favour of fixed-term Parliaments) or can be earlier if the government loses a vote of confidence. MPs are elected on the basis of the candidate winning the most votes is declared the winner, even if they only have one more vote than the next candidate when there are multiple candidates; i.e. it is not necessary to win more than 50% of the votes cast.

Results are only given for the whole constituency, not individual wards. When boundaries change, the "results" of the previous election for the new seats are estimated by the media from local council results. These should be taken with some caution.

When in the Commons, MPs are not addressed by each other by name, but as "The Honourable Member for [name of constituency]" / "My Honourable friend" for someone from your own party, or "The Honourable gentleman/lady" for people not in your party. There are some varying titles, such as "Right Honourable", used for members of the Privy Council, and "Learned" (pronounced "learn-ed") for MPs who are also barristers.

Parliamentary debates and question times are far more rowdy than the (modern) United States Congress, with creative insults being the order of the day, but Floor Fights are very rare. The chamber is presided over by the Speaker or one of his/her deputies. The Speaker is a non-partisan figure (once elected Speaker, they drop their party affiliation, and ascend to the Lords after retiring as an MP), and during debates in the Commons, all remarks are addressed to the Speaker; speaking directly to your opposite number and using words like "you" gets you a slapped wrist. Particularly controversial media issues may be raised in Parliament, including this particular gem from a Conservative MP. The current Speaker is John Bercow, a (former) Conservative from Buckingham. The Speaker, in a tie, will nearly always vote to keep debate open and will almost never vote for a bill, as doing so would create a majority where one did not exist; the main exception is if the bill is a confidence or supply measure--i.e., if the bill fails, the government collapses and either a new PM and new government must be chosen or new elections must be held--in which case the Speaker will generally vote in favor.

Elections to the Commons
There are 650 elected MPs, all but two of whom are also members of a political party. Westminster is most near to a "two-and-a-half party" system, with the dominant parties being Labour and the Conservatives, and the perpetual third party the Liberal Democrats.

The first-past-the-post electoral system slightly favours Labour and heavily disadvantages the Liberal Democrats (and small parties in general), reflecting Labour's traditional large support in the cities and the Lib Dems' having a fairly even support nationwide; in theory, the Lib Dems could even beat the Conservatives into second and Labour could remain the largest party with twice as many as the Lib Dems. The voting system can, and has done, in some cases cause political parties to lose seats even though their popular vote increases; this happens to the minor parties more than Labour and the Conservatives. Proposals have been made to switch to a more proportional system, with ultimately little success — the main argument against the change was that it would ensure weak, minority governments or coalitions. On 5 May 2011, the UK held a referendum on whether to switch from the existing First Past The Post system to Alternative Vote, which if passed was expected to more fairly represent smaller parties like the Lib Dems and the Greens. There were vocal campaigns both for and against the switch to AV. Because of a legendarily terrible campaign from the Yes side that will be autopsied for years to come, it was defeated resoundingly, leading to the coalition becoming a lot more adversarial (Summary, in musical form). The most recent general election took place on 6 May 2010, with the key issues being immigration, the economy, and, late into the campaign, electoral reform; it produced a "hung parliament" with the Conservatives being the largest party, bringing the aspect of electoral reform to the centre of political discourse.

After the elections
The party that can command a majority is the ruling party. Their elected leader, chosen by the party through varying methods, then chooses a cabinet of which he/she serves as primus inter pares (first among equals). These men and women are responsible for various departments of government; there are currently 27 cabinet members who hold 42 positions—Harriet Harman has acquired the nickname "Three Hats Harman"—including the Prime Minister. They're often referred to as "The X Secretary", but their actual title is "The Secretary of State for X". Cabinet membership is not subject to Parliamentary approval, and may not even be along party lines (although, these days, they nearly always are), so chops and changes frequently, with much attendant press speculation.

Contrary to public assumptions, and the press' frequent bellyaching, the Prime Minister is not directly elected, thus calling a PM "unelected" doesn't really mean anything, except to take a swipe at a PM you don't like; Gordon Brown got a lot of this to the point of being the press' Butt Monkey in the run-up to the 2010 election, despite the fact that, of the 23 Prime Ministers since 1900, fourteen ascended to the position in the middle of a Government; even Winston Churchill was "unelected" for his first run at the premiership during World War II.

Below this people are the Ministers of State and the Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State (PUSSYs). Below them are the Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS), who are unpaid lackeys for the Cabinet members. They sit behind the front bench at Prime Minister's Questions, with the result that the camera cuts their heads off. Those who are not chosen or refuse offers for the Cabinet or for junior ministerial office are called "backbenchers", as opposed to those who sit on the Government "front bench".

The official title of the largest party that is not in Government is "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition", and their job description is to question and hold to account "Her Majesty's Government" to ensure that any policies have been well thought-out. The leader of the largest party out of government is also known as "The Leader of the Opposition" and is a member of the Privy Council. The Opposition party will also select a cabinet, known as a Shadow Cabinet. Despite sounding very cool, this cabinet does not do anything in practical terms. Instead, their job is to call on their cabinet counterpart during meetings in the Commons, typically to question their decisions (the other MPs, including the backbenchers, can also do this to whomever they wish). They also work out the party's policies in relation to their position—i.e., the Shadow Secretary for Education will look at schools and universities—ready for the next election. The Lib Dems, while in opposition, also select their own "frontbench team" too, from the few MPs they have (as it is, they are currently in coalition with the Tories and have five of a total of 23 official Cabinet seats).

Unlike in the United States, changes of government occur very quickly. It is possible, and common, for the polls to close at 10 pm on Thursday, the result be more-or-less certain at about 3am on Friday, the defeated Prime Minister to go to Buckingham Palace to resign before lunch on Friday, with the new PM appointed before Friday evening and appointments sorted out over the weekend. Obviously, there are times when the result goes right down to the wire and the result not known until breakfast the following morning, most lately in 1992 (Conservative majority of 20) and 2010.

The following list includes political parties with regional representation or better, ordered by numbers of MPs, MEPs (Members of the European Parliament, out of 73), MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament, out of 129), MLAs (Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, out of 108), and AMs (Members of the National Assembly of Wales, out of 60), where applicable.

The Big Three parties

 * The Conservative Party (305 MPs, 25 MEPs, 15 MSPs, 13 AMs): Formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, indicating their position on The Irish Question, although hardly anyone ever remembers this. The party which currently has the PM and most of the Cabinet (Executive Branch). The traditional party for rural voters, suburban voters, middle classes, the aspirational working class/Nouveau Riche types, and the wealthy. For a long time associated with the "ruling class" and the "establishment", they have tended to take a more populist approach to politics in recent years, especially during the Margaret Thatcher years and under Cameron's leadership, and are usually perceived these days as a centre-right party with a middle-class focus and classical liberal economic tendencies. They've moved towards the middle in recent years, although they still have some right-wing traditionalist opinions. The popular opinion between 1997 and 2010 was that there was very little difference between them and Labour. They are traditionally popular in the South-East of England and rural areas. The party colour is blue, and their icon appears to be a child's drawing of a tree, supposedly an attempt by Cameron to emphasise the party's environmentalist credentials; from 1975 to 2006 it was a torch of liberty. They are popularly known as the "Tories", a term that originally was an insult against Irish cattle thieves and which was the name of the modern party's forebear. The current leader is David Cameron, who has modernised the party, but the most famous member is probably the current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, famous for his appearances on the show Have I Got News for You. Has a substantial Hatedom they gained under Margaret Thatcher that they've never got rid off, to the point where the Tories are seriously seen by a substantial amount (mainly northerners and the working class) of the population as evil incarnate. The Conservatives won the largest share of the popular vote and the most seats in the Commons in the 2010 general election but did not have an overall majority; they formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats to produce a comfortable majority of eighty. It should be noted that the Conservatives are not particularly popular in Scotland, with there currently being twice as many pandas in Scotland than there are Tory M Ps.
 * The Labour Party (258 MPs, 13 MEPs, 37 MSPs, 26 AMs): Started off as a socialist, working man's party (hence the name) but became increasingly concerned with more liberal middle-class issues in the late 1980s and moved closer to the centre under Neil Kinnock and especially Tony Blair. In the mid 1990s, Blair dubbed his vision for the party "New Labour", a piece of branding designed to distance Labour from its crazed infighting and somewhat far-left early 1980s incarnation which the image-obsessed Blair thought had a negative perception amongst voters; this label has actually came to be used more as a term of abuse by the party's enemies rather than a badge of honour, and the party itself has dropped it under its current leader, Ed Milliband. There was between 1994 and 2010 a dangerous divide between the Blairites, named after Tony Blair, and Brownites, named after Gordon Brown, and no one was quite sure what the difference was; the general consensus was that Brown is slightly more socialist and rather more Eurosceptic. Officially a left-wing socialist party, they are now generally regarded as a centre to centre-left social-democratic party. However, they've been accused of flirtation with right-wing policies, especially with regard to civil liberties -- to the point a historically very conservative Tory triggered a by-election in 2006 to protest a counter-terrorism bill -- and anything Peter Mandelson got his hands on, which mostly appeared to be desperate attempts at populism. They are traditionally popular in the North of England, Scotland and South Wales, and among trade unionists. The Labour party's current icon is the rose (a traditional European socialist symbol), and the party colour, used in election materials and identification of Labour constituencies on maps, is red. You'll see a number of Labour members listed as "Lab/Co-Op". This means that they are also sponsored by the Co-operative Party, the political arm of the UK Co-operative movement (as in the supermarket chain Co-Op). The Co-op Party differ very little from Labour, apart from an emphasis on fair trade, and don't run candidates themselves. Labour lost its majority in the general election of May 6, 2010, and Brown resigned when he could not broker a deal with other parties. Their current leader is Ed Miliband, having bested his brother David (and three other candidates who had little to no chance of victory) in a tight leadership election. Jon Culshaw was reportedly happy, as Mili-E sounds exactly the same as Jon's impression of Tony Blair.
 * The Liberal Democrats: (57 MPs, 11 MEPs, 5 MSPs, 5 AMs) Traditionally a centrist, liberal (in the European sense) party, they are widely perceived as being slightly to the left of post-Blair Labour, and are sometimes treated as simply a "trendier" version of Labour. Formed from the merger of the old Liberal Party -- itself a descendent of the original Whig party -- which saw its vote collapse after the rise of the Labour party, and the Social Democratic Party, which was formed of former Labour MPs who quit the party during their Marxist phase in the 80s. Notable for having a very favourable educational policy and for getting rid of their alcoholic leader in 2006, then the one after him within two years. They are traditionally very popular in Scotland, Cornwall, and Devon, and anywhere with a sizeable student population; for example, Leeds North West, where 25% of the electorate are students, has one of the most comfortable Lib Dem majorities in the country. Their party colour is a kind of gold-yellow, and their icon is the dove. The slang adjective is "Lib Dem". Suffer a lot from being the Third Option; when they were treated equally to the main two parties during the 2010 election campaign, they even registered first place on the polls. The fact that these polls still translated to third party status -- due to their relatively even support nationwide -- explains why one of their key party policies is the introduction of proportional representation through the single transferable vote. Since the Liberals' fall from popularity back in the 20s, their realistic aims have been to be kingmakers in a hung parliament, which they did in the 2010 election, deciding to ally with the Tories after talks with Labour failed. Now in a bit of a rut after claims that they betrayed their voters by a) getting into a coalition with the Tories (see what we mean about the Tories' hatedom?) and b) splitting in half to vote to raise tuition fees despite promising not to. Their leader is the current Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.

In Great Britain

 * The Scottish National Party (Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba in Gaelic/Scottis Naitional Pairtie in Scots; 7 MPs, 2 MEPs, 69 MSPs): Normally just called the SNP. The party's platform calls for Scottish independence and now has the power to call a referendum on the subject. Despite the similarity of their names, they couldn't be more different to the BNP, the SNP supports the monarchy and has a somewhat socialist, left-wing set of policies that more resembles "Old" Labour than anything else. Currently the largest party in the Scottish Parliament with an outright majority (something considered impossible previously, the system itself was set-up specifically to prevent any party getting and outright majority). The leader/First Minister Alex Salmond is very serious about wanting an independent Scotland--he campaigns openly on it, in fact--which is anathema to the staunchly unionist Conservatives and federalist Labour and Lib Dems, who both want more devolution within the UK.
 * Plaid Cymru (3 MPs, 1 MEP, 23 AMs): "The Party of Wales" in English, a Welsh nationalist and republican party who campaign for full Welsh independence and an expansion of the Welsh language, among other things. Like the SNP, they're a centre-left liberal party, but not so keen on independence. They only field candidates in Wales. For those not versed in the Welsh language, that's pronounced "Plide Cumree". And you thought that English spelling was weird.
 * English Democrats: English nationalist party in the vein of the SNP and Plaid Cymru. Generally close in ideology to the Conservatives, with most of their elected party members former Tories, but with support for an devolved legislature and an elected Lords. Beyond an elected mayor and a handful of councillors, not much representation, although they were the most popular party to not return an MEP in the 2009 European elections.
 * Mebyon Kernow (Sons of Cornwall): left-of-centre party agitating for Cornish autonomy, in the style of Celtic region devolution. Nothing more than a handful of members of Cornwall County Council.

In Northern Ireland

 * Democratic Unionist Party (DUP; 8 MPs, 1 MEP, 35 MLAs): presently the largest party in Northern Ireland to favour the continued union with Britain, and the biggest NI party as a whole. While their economic policies are broadly socialist due to the influence of the party's working class grassroots support, they're strongly right-wing virtually everywhere else, mostly as a result of the leadership of Reverend Ian Paisley, the founder of the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church. Although they're most famous for being stringently reactionary, the party seems to have mellowed out a bit since Paisley (and then his successor, Peter Robinson) became First Minister of Northern Ireland in 2005. Recently, they've been involved in a bit of a feud with the even more hardline Traditonal Unionist Voice.
 * Sinn Féin (pronounced "shin fane", Irish for "we ourselves"; 5 MPs, 1 MEP, 28 MLAs): The second largest party in Northern Ireland and the main nationalist (favouring Irish unification) grouping in the NI assembly. While they've been elected to the House of Commons, they don't actually take their seats as they see NI's membership of the UK as illegitimate. During The Troubles, they were perceived as the political wing of the Provisional IRA -- which, to be honest, is true; when the then-leader Martin McGuinness said in negotiations "We'll have to consult the [IRA] army council on this", the then Foreign Minister (later Prime Minister) of Ireland, Brian Cowen, spat back "Yeah, well, there's a mirror in the toilet if you want to go in there and talk to them" -- but like the DUP they've generally managed to distance themselves from their more radical past.
 * Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; Irish language: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre; 3 MPs, 16 MLAs): Moderate NI nationalist party, historically linked to both the British and Irish Labour Parties, its members take the Labour whip in Westminster.
 * Alliance Party (1 MP; 7 MLAs): A non-sectarian and very weakly NI unionist party linked to the Liberal Democrats but not taking their whip.
 * Ulster Unionist Party (UUP; 1 MEP, 17 MLAs): Moderate NI unionist party, they were the majority in the Northern Ireland Parliament for all 51 years of the first Home Rule period (1921–72). Traditionally linked to the Conservative Party, they distanced themselves from the Tories after the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. They agreed in 2009 to run on a common ticket and possibly take the Conservative whip should the Tories win government in 2010. As it is, the UUP won no seats at Westminister anyway, so even though the Conservatives got Number 10, the agreement was more or less a dead letter.
 * The Green Party in Northern Ireland (1 MLA): The Green Party, in Northern Ireland, allied weakly to the English and Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Greens.
 * Progressive Unionist Party (PUP; 1 MLA): left-wing NI unionist party.

The minor national parties

 * The Green Party (1 MP, 2 ME Ps, 2 MSPs): originally an environmental single-issue party, they have attempted to branch-out into other areas of policy in which they tend to take a standard British-left-wing viewpoint. They used to differ from other left-wing parties with regard to science, where they Greens embraced many "alternative" (and scientifically rubbished) ideas such as homeopathy, partially as a result of their manifesto being completely democratic, even to people not versed in either science or politics. Those policies have now been tightened up, and they are no longer "anti-science". Also unlike their European counterparts, they are a Eurosceptic party and part of the same international alliance of Eurosceptic parties as UKIP, albeit only with observer status, although this is not widely known. Technically three parties: the party has separate branches in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland; the Scottish Greens are pro-independence (and have the backing of Franz Ferdinand). The English and Welsh Greens won the first Green seat at Westminster in 2010, its leader Caroline Lucas beating Labourite Nancy Platts to win the seat of Brighton Pavilion in East Sussex. The Greens' colour, surprisingly, is green, and the English and Wales party's icon is a sunflower. The Scottish, English and Welsh, and Irish branches of the Greens use variations on the theme.
 * The UK Independence Party (UKIP; 13 MEPs): a single-issue party which has attained victories primarily in Britain's elections for members of the European Parliament, but ironically want to change that situation by pulling the UK out of the EU altogether. Officially a "wide-spectrum" party united by opposition to British membership of the European Union, they are unofficially largely a populist, nationalist, anti-immigration grouping of disgruntled Thatcherist Conservatives disillusioned with their "home" party, and their general outlook is very similar to that of the right wing of the Conservative Party that was dominant in the '80s but unofficially marginalised post 2005. The party's first European parliamentarians had a tendency for making embarrassing jingoistic far-right gaffes, although the current leadership has made effective efforts to improve the party's image. Their party colour is purple, and their icon is a pound symbol (£)—representing their opposition to the Euro—with the party initials "UKIP" forming the bar across the middle. Surprisingly enough, the BNP don't like them very much: they're a detriment to their chances of a monopoly on the anti-Europe vote. The feeling is generally mutual. They have a couple of members of the House of Lords, who defected from the Conservatives.
 * Former leader Nigel Farage committed one of the greatest taboos in British politics: he ran against the Speaker in 2010, John Bercow, in his Buckinghamshire constituency. Farage failed to even come close in taking the seat. The Speaker is a politically neutral figure who takes the job whilst still being an MP, giving up party affiliation and usually ending up in the House of Lords after leaving the job. Obviously, it would cause all kinds of havoc if they were to fail to get their seat. Normally it isn't an issue - but a lot of people are feeling disenfranchised, not being able to vote for any of the main three parties.
 * The British National Party (BNP, 2 MEPs), colloquially known as the British Nazi Party. Proof that the Second World War didn't really teach some British people anything, they are an ultra-populist far-right (so far-right they believe the Conservatives to be Marxist) party and believe in withdrawal from the European Union, isolationism, strongly authoritarian anti-crime measures and "better rights" for "native Britons" (i.e. white) as well as "voluntary repatriation" of what they regard as "non-native" Britons (i.e. deporting anyone who isn't white). They are usually elected in areas with high levels of racial tension. They are derided by other far-right groups such as the National Front for trying to make themselves appear respectable. They have recently been playing up their anti-immigration policies in order to gain popular support, but remain very niche and have no M Ps although they have several councillors and a few ME Ps in the European Parliament. Their colours are red white and blue, and the party's logo consists of the initials "BNP", with a Union Jack pattern beneath. The appellation "far-right", by the way, applies to their social, foreign and law and order policies; their economic policy is somewhat standard and, as long as you're white, you'd probably get the same financial assistance from the state as you would under Labour. One of the only political parties to be banned from most university campuses, due to their far-right policies. They are almost universally hated and are considered Acceptable Targets, as demonstrated when their leader, Nick Griffin went on Question Time. For everyone except him, Hilarity Ensued.
 * Mostly appears in Fictional Counterpart form.
 * Recently had its membership list leaked by a disgruntled party worker, and, rather hilariously, declared its intention to use the Human Rights Act, an implementation of a European Union directive that it actively campaigned to have repealed, against the leaker. Sandi Toksvig on The News Quiz: "Sometimes you don't have to write jokes." The worker was ultimately fined, but only a pittance, due to the BNP's aggressive case.
 * Actually the Human Rights Act is a domestic codification of the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights (with its own court - separate from the EU's European Court of Justice) - it's a common misconception that it's an EU treaty (Russia is a signatory)
 * Since 2009, they are now represented in Europe, taking two seats Oop North. As a result, some universities in the North are somewhat uncomfortable with the ban now: most notably Durham -- who aren't represented by the BNP -- who disaffiliated from the NUS after they tried to enforce the ban over the university's wishes.
 * Their campaign literature has a tendency to be poorly researched; for instance, a recent campaign leaflet showed pictures of ordinary Britons and images from World War Two such as a Spitfire. However, it turned out that most of the "ordinary Britons" were stock photographs of non-British models, and the Spitfire belonged to 303 (Polish) Squadron — a delicious irony given that one of the BNP's particular bugbears is immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries. Likewise, as any far-right nationalist party would, they have a love of using England's patron saint, St George: a Palestinian who would've almost certainly have been told to go home under their policies.
 * The National Front, the main ultra-nationalist party in the 70s and 80s and a predecessor of the BNP, still fields a handful of candidates, although most of its members have moved to the BNP. The main difference between the NF and the BNP is that the BNP at least pretends not to be racist. In a lot of more politically aware fiction set in the Thatcher years (This Is England for example), the NF (or a Fictional Counterpart) often loom on the horizon.
 * RESPECT: The Unity Coalition, a hodgepodge of anti-Iraq War socialists and ultraconservative Muslims. Notable for electing famous cat imitator and useful idiot George Galloway in 2005 after he moved from a Labour safe seat in Glasgow to the very Muslim Bethnal Green and Bow following his expulsion from the Labour Party for saying it'd be a "good idea" if Tony Blair was assassinated. Galloway moved a little south to Poplar to contest the 2010 election and crashed and burned out, leaving RESPECT with a handful of council seats in Birmingham and London.
 * In April 2012 George Galloway was elected MP for Bradford West.
 * There are also several communist and socialist parties, mainly notable for their sheer number (most famously the Socialist Worker's Party, but also including the Communist Party of Great Britain, the Communist Party of Britain, the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), the Judean People's Front, the Judean Popular People's Front, the People's Front for Judea, and the Judean Popular People's Front (the last is an old man, and the rest are all splitters)). Totally insignificant from a practical point of view, having membership in the hundreds rather than thousands. Came in for a lot of ribbing in Monty Python's Life of Brian, where the Judean seperatist movements and its in-fighting were a parody of this. The Communist Part actually had some seats back in 1945 before news of Stalin's purges made communism unpopular.

Not really parties, but listed for completion:

 * Independents are a small part of political process, mostly being in the legislatures from elected for local issues (such as Dr. Richard Taylor, who was elected an MP in 2001 and 2005 to save his local hospital), from leaving their own party in protest to some issue (such as Sylvia Hermon, who was an ex-UUP member), or being kicked out of their own party for misbehaviour. Currently, 1 MP (Hermon), 1 MSP, 1 MLA, and 2 AMs are officially Independent.
 * Crossbenchers are the Lords version of independents, and account for about 20% of the members of the upper house. Generally, they are composed of experts in certain fields (for example, back in the eighties, the Lords brought in several veterinarians to help with the animal welfare debate), and have no official affiliation. Sit on the "crossbenches" in the Lords, unsurprisingly.
 * Lords Spiritual: the 26 most senior bishops in the Church of England, their membership is due to Anglicanism being the official religion of Britain. Generally don't vote on anything but ecclesiastial matters, but modern secularism and their hand in immensely watering down a Government bill in 2010 are gradually making this arrangement... unpopular.

And last, but certainly not least...

 * The Monster Raving Loony Party: Joke party who exist only to draw attention to political issues through satire. For a long time, the party was led by Screaming Lord Sutch, but after his suicide, their current leader, Howling Lord Hope, took over. Notable for actively trying not to get elected; their performance in the 1990 Bootle by-election, beating The Remnant of the SDP (who had almost won Richmond a year previous) both killed off the SDP and deeply disturbed Sutch. Several apparently "loony" policies of theirs have been implemented over the years, including lowering the voting age to eighteen (the party's original platform as the "Teenage Party"), the issuing of passports for pets, and all-day opening for pubs.
 * While having few seats, they in fact get a suprisingly large amount of votes, considering their stance.
 * When the first National Front councillor was elected, the media predictably went into crazy mode. Screaming Lord Sutch defused the situation by pointing out that, at the time, there were also three serving Loony councillors.

The parties and elections
UKIP and the Green Party have had very little electoral success, despite levels of support that would suggest returning a handful of legislators (2010: 3.0% and 1.0% respectively); the first MP from either party to get elected to the Commons was the Green Party leader Caroline Lucas in 2010; however, they have been more successful in getting members elected to the European Parliament, although the UKIP, in common with a number of other minor parties in history, have had a party member defect to them. Until 2009, the BNP (2010: 1.9%) have never been elected to anything more significant than a few local council seats; they now have two MEPs. Before anyone gets too worried about the implications, they actually received fewer votes than the previous election, but lower turnout, in part due to an ongoing political scandal affecting the main parties more than hard-line BNP supporters, meant they received a higher proportion of the total. Given that it effectively disenfranchises a great deal of the population, this along with the Liberal Democrats' low seats-to-votes ratio, is one of the most common arguments for proportional representation.

Political parties based in Great Britain, especially Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats, do not generally contest elections in Northern Ireland, although the Conservative party has contested elections and failed to make much of an impact. Instead, there is a completely separate set of political parties: Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) are mainly Catholic parties; the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) are mainly Protestant parties; and the Alliance Party is non-sectarian. Sinn Féin is an abstentionist party, i.e. when its candidates win an election to the House of Commons, they refuse to take their seats as they would have to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown. Sinn Féin also fields candidates across the border in the Republic of Ireland (where they do take their seats, but have historically done far worse; the 2011 elections did see a large improvement, however). It is currently the only political party to actively operate in both the UK and Ireland.

Major Defunct Parties:

 * The Whigs: (1678–1868) Supported aristocrats, the Hanoverian succession and Presbyterians. Opposed to absolute monarchy. The roots of the Liberal Party.
 * The Whigs were the anti-war party during The American Revolution, with Edmund Burke--a prominent Whig--making several impassioned speeches at least vaguely supportive of the American cause in Parliament. As a result, the American revolutionaries identified themselves with the Whigs and the Loyalists with the Tories. This had a few strange effects. On one hand, when the New England wing of the Democratic-Republicans merged with the remainder of the Federalists, they decided to call themselves the Whig Party (go figure). On the other hand, the American Whigs, being anti-slavery, were responsible for naming and providing the ideology for the True Whig Party of Liberia, which, starting in 1870 (and ending only in 1971), was the ruling party in the world's first one-party state. Oops.
 * The Radicals (late 18th century–1859): progressive grouping which supported parliamentary reform, Catholic Emancipation and freedom of the press. Opposed the Corn Laws.
 * The Peelites' (1846-59): Supporters of PM Robert Peel who defected from the Tories and, twenty years later, merged into the Liberals. Advocated free trade and technocracy.
 * The Liberal Party: (1859–1988) Successors to the Whigs, Radicals and Peelites. One of the two major parties in the 19th and early 20th century (along with the Conservatives). Supported Home Rule for Ireland and the expansion of the electoral franchise. Destroyed by The Irish Question, internal fighting, the rise of the Labour Party and the First World War. Precisely what was ultimately responsible is a subject of historical debate, with one analogy being that of a man being run over by a bus while having a heart attack. The remnants much later merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the modern Liberal Democrats. Of course, this being the UK, a remnant of the remnant continues to call itself the Liberal Party and claim a continuity with the earlier party. Said remnant is only popular in a few small places, i.e. Liverpool Council, which has a handful of Liberal councillors. Famous members included William Gladstone, David Lloyd George and, before he went back to the Tories, Winston Churchill.
 * The Irish Parliamentary Party, also known as the Home Rule Party: (1873–1918) Another fallen giant. A moderate Irish nationalist party that was the third largest party in Westminster during their existence, and actually held the balance of power at several points. Campaigned for Home Rule, a precursor of the current devolution situation. Destroyed by the rise of Sinn Féin, the party has the rather sad honour of the worst election meltdown in British political history: they went into the 1918 general election with 76 seats and emerged with just 7. A remnant staggered on in Northern Ireland, eventually merging with a few other minor parties to become the SDLP. Famous members include Charles Stewart Parnell and John Redmond.
 * The Social Democratic Party (the SDP): (1981–1988) A mildly left-wing party formed in the early 1980s by members of the Labour Party who felt that the Labour Party was moving too far left to be electable (and they were probably right; look at 1983). They got a few dozen Labour MP's and a lone Conservative MP to join the party. The SDP almost immediate formed a close electoral alliance with the Liberal Party. For a time this "SDP/Liberal Alliance" looked like they could win the 1983 election and forever alter the political landscape of Britain. But, they came out with only a couple dozen MPs (despite a vote share the Lib Dems have been unable to match since) and, after limping along a few more years, merged with the Liberal Party to become the Liberal Democrats. Like the Liberals, a remnant exists that claims continuity with the old SDP, but does far worse than the Liberal remnant.

TOW has a list of all political parties of note here.

The House of Lords
Partially made up of the remnants of Britain's upper classes; a combination of hereditary lords (whose peerages are passed from parents to children), bishops known as Lords Spiritual, and other nobles, leaving it traditionally conservative-with-a-very-small-c. Tony Blair's Labour government was central in stripping some of the power from the House of Lords (in an attempt to stifle opposition to Blair), including removing all but 92 of the hereditary peers and replacing them with a wide range of peers from all walks of life, particularly those with scientific or other specialist knowledge, although there was a controversy about some candidates who got into office after making large donations to the Labour Party, in the Cash for Honours controversy. These were elected by committees as part of a Government drive. There were votes in 2007 to remove the last peers from the House, which were blocked by the Lords.

The purpose of The House of Lords is to act as a checking system for The House of Commons and to scrutinize any bills that are passed through Parliament (although they can also submit new bills, this happens only rarely). This rather divides opinion in political experts; some think that unelected members of Parliament goes against the principles of democracy and that the second House should also be elected by the public, while others believe that having two elected chambers would be a bad idea, since it would lead to the same party being dominant in both, and thus be able to force bills through with no opposition.

The Lords consist of 741 active members and have the power to veto or delay any move by the Commons, which explains why they still exist. However, there are restrictions; the Lords cannot permanently affect any bill that seeks to fulfill promises made in the Government's manifesto, nor can they affect any bill that is concerned solely with public money or taxation. The Government can also force a bill past the House of Lords via the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, although this is rare, being last done over foxhunting. If you were wondering how a bill allowing the Commons to bypass the Lords was created, the Lords voted in favour of it (eventually; the Prime Minister got the King to threaten to stack the House in his favour by appointing more Lords).

The House of Lords also features Law Lords, who act as the highest court of appeal in the UK. However, they have been phased out in favour of Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which also aims to widen the split between the judicial and legislative powers, both of which, it can be argued, are embodied in some way in The House of Lords.

The Privy Council
The Privy Council has nothing, usually, to do with toilets. It has a lot less power than it used to (the Cabinet, a subcommittee, has most of that). It consists of former and current Cabinet members, leaders of the big three political parties, plus a few other people that get invited to the show. The main advantages of membership is that a) it's for life, b) you can call yourself "Right Honourable", c) you can sit on the steps of the throne during debates if you're a member of the House of Lords and d) you get access to top secret documents.

Upon the death of the monarch, sovereign power devolves to the Privy Council until the latter officially proclaims the heir to be King or Queen.

Government Departments, Agencies and The Civil Service
To actually administer the country, there are a considerable number of government bodies. The highest rank are the Government Departments—the name "Ministry" is virtually unused now—, many of whom are based in Whitehall -- although, in true British fashion, stuff will be farmed out elsewhere). These departments have a tendency to chop and change with each new administration, since there is no law regulating them. However, the ones that have stood the test of time are:


 * The Cabinet Office: based in Downing Street, they aid the PM in his or her job. For the benefit of confused Yanks, that makes them roughly equivalent to the Executive Office of the President, i.e., the immediate staff of the leader him/herself. They have a rather cool briefing room called COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A), which ministers will meet in during a crisis.
 * The Treasury: By far the most important institution of British government following Parliament itself; indeed, the Prime Minister's official title, by which he/she gets most of his/her perks, is 'First Lord of the Treasury'. Featuring two Cabinet ministers- the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his deputy, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Sets taxation policies.
 * The Home Office: nothing to do with housing, this is the department that deals with the police and the security services. Was split into two in 2007, with the new Ministry of Justice getting prisons and absorbing the Department of Constitutional Affairs, after being declared "not fit for purpose".
 * The Foreign And Commonwealth Office: Formerly the Foreign Office, which people often call it today, it's run by the Foreign Secretary and its job is rather obvious.
 * Ministry of Defence (MoD): Again self-explanatory. Home is a large imposing white building in Whitehall, with statues around it, which is not particularly advertised, but rather obvious.

The Civil Service are the people who run the departments. There are a lot of people with the title "Secretary" in these departments, but they're not actual secretaries: there's a Yes Minister scene that ends with the line "Mrs. McKay types... She's the secretary."

Devolution of Power
Although the UK Parliament is in the Westminster area of London, England, the country of Scotland has its own Parliament, and Wales and Northern Ireland have national/regional assemblies, while London has the Greater London Authority.

These structures have limited powers over their respective countries; most matters remain in the hands of the UK national Government. They each have different degrees of self-control, with Scotland having devolved the most power (and having its own, entirely different legal system).

The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish organisational structures contain a strong representation from their respective country's national parties - the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Féin respectively. These parties advocate separation from the United Kingdom. England does not currently have its own parliament - possibly because England's size relative to other parts of the UK is such that an English parliament will not be more representative than the UK parliament. There have been proposals for English regions to have devolved parliaments or 'regional assemblies', and there is currently a Greater London Assembly, that has similar powers to a devolved parliament, but no others as yet.

Northern Ireland previously had a devolved parliament (Stormont) with an actual Prime Minister (between 1921-1972). This wielded a great deal more power than the current Assembly but was abolished in 1972 due to the worsening Troubles.

The Scottish Parliament, Welsh National Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly, and the Greater London Assembly are elected for fixed terms of four years and have an element of proportional representation in the electoral process to ensure that the eventual composition of the elected assembly more nearly reflects the proportion of votes cast for the various parties e.g. the Welsh Assembly has 60 members, 40 of whom are elected for geographical constituencies which match the 40 House of Commons seats which Wales has; the other 20 members are elected from regional lists to adjust the overall seat distribution in each region in line with the proportion of votes cast between the parties.

Following the 2011 elections, control of the devolved parliaments is as follows:


 * The Scottish Parliament and Government is run by the Scottish National Party (SNP), who've managed to win a reasonable majority and give up their supply-and-confidence agreements with the Greens and Lib Dems. Rather impressive given the mixed constituency/list system specifically meant to prevent majority governments (a virtually identical one has done so in Germany for sixty-three years, with only one exception).
 * The Welsh Assembly Government is run by Labour. Labour won exactly 30 seats in the 60 seat assembly, falling one short of the 50% + 1 traditional majority. Since there wouldn't be much point sacrificing most of their power to a kingmaker just for a single seat, Labour runs as a minority government.
 * The Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive is run by a coalition of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. Northern Irish politics virtually require that the Executive must always be formed from a Unionist (or Protestant) and a Nationalist (or Catholic) party, although the DUP and SF make rather strange bedfellows. The DUP supplanted the UUP as the main Protestant party, and Sinn Féin supplanted the SDLP as the main Catholic party over the 2000s.

The last GLA elections were in 2008. The Assembly is under no overall control (the biggest party is the Conservatives with 11 out of the 25 seats). The Mayor of London is Boris Johnson, a very colourful Tory ex-MP, who has been on Have I Got News for You.

The Mayor of London should not be confused with the Lord Mayor of London. The latter is an entirely ceremonial position in the separate administrative area of the City of London, which has its own police, and serves only for a year at a time, while the former runs the Greater London area. The most famous Lord Mayor of London is Richard Whittington (c.1350-1423), who served as the inspiration for the Pantomime character Dick Whittington.

The devolution of Scotland has brought something called "The West Lothian Question" to greater prominence. This is the rather odd situation in which a Scottish MP can vote on English education policy, but not vice versa: this was exactly how top-up fees got introduced in 2004; Scottish Labour MPs, who wouldn't be affected by their introduction, voted overwhelmingly in favour for them, giving the party their majority (of 5!) votes to push the legislation through. The Conservatives want Scottish MPs to be barred from these sorts of votes. Labour says that will create two classes of MP. There's rather a partisan dimension to this; the majority of members from Scotland (and Wales) are Labour, including Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.

Local Government
Local government in the UK is a very complex subject, with not all areas having the same system. Most areas of England have County Councils, with District Councils below them (many districts are called Boroughs or Cities). However, there are some Unitary Authorities (whose councils are either called London Boroughs, Metropolitan Boroughs, Cities, Counties, Districts or simply just Councils) which can be best thought of by Americans as what you would get if the entire of Southern California became one state and combined its local and state authorities into one government. The whole of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are divided into Unitary Authorities. In Northern Ireland there are known as Districts though 2 have City Status, Scotland has council areas (4 being City Councils) and Wales has Principal Areas known as either Counties, Cities or County Boroughs.

In most rural parts and some urban areas of England the districts are sub-divided into Civil Parishes which are run by Parish Councils despite which despite what it looks like in the Britcom The Vicar of Dibley these councils have nothing to do with the Church Of England which is also divided into parishes which are run by Parochial Church Councils (sometimes the 2 councils may have the same people on them but are totally seperate identies). Parish councils have very little power normally but if they cover a small town the local district or county council may devolve certain matters to them - eg public parks. Parish councils that cover towns are called Town Councils and some are even City Councils these councils are led by a Town or City Mayors. Some parishes have too small a population to have a council and instead have an annual parish meeting where the whole parish is invited to discuss local matters. Wales has similar bodies called Community Councils. The equivalent bodies no longer exist in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Local government is responsible for things like planning, schools, libraries and refuse collection.

Local councils are elected every May: which ones and which seats vary from year to year, but most seats are generally four years long. These elections, like US mid-terms, are often an opportunity to protest against the government. Local issues also play a big role.

All borough and city councils have a Mayor or a in Scotland a Provost some are known as Lord Mayors or Provosts. This is usually elected by the Councilors from among themselves, mainly doing ceremonial and charity work. Some areas have an elected Mayor though: most notably Hartlepool, which in 2002 elected the guy who was in the suit of their town's football mascot, H'Angus The Monkey. Despite the fact that he didn't actually expect to get elected, he's done a great job and in 2009 became the first mayor in England to be re-elected for a third term.

Some more stuff on specific cities and towns is covered in Other British Towns and Cities.

N.B.: The UK local government divisions are not the same as the postal ones, which are based on older county lines.

The Royal Family
Originally formed as warring Anglo-Saxons joined together under one leader, for hundreds of years the monarch served as the de facto leader of England, passing on the power to a relative, preferably a son, upon death. After the childless "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth died, the Scottish monarch James VI of the House of Stuart, a distant relative of hers, came to the throne as James I of England and Ireland and VI of Scotland. Unfortunately his son, Charles I, wasn't too good at the job he later inherited, as his opposition to Parliament triggered the English Civil War, which ended with King Chuck getting beheaded in 1649. Following the King's execution Parliament declared the abolition of the monarchy and the formation of a republic called the "Commonwealth" governed by Parliament in its own right: an extremely radical concept for those times. Despite officially ruling in the name of the people, the Commonwealth was dominated by both the army, who had fought the King's men during the civil war and were essentially the reason it existed, and followers of the Puritan faith whose influence meant that the Commonwealth was often rather more like theocratic "Christian republic" than a republic in the Roman, American or French understanding. The Puritans, as their name suggests, weren't fond of fun and many strict religious rules were enforced including the infamous banning of Christmas festivities.

This set-up lasted only a few years until an MP and military hero of the civil wars called Oliver Cromwell (who had also conquered Scotland and Ireland and absorbed them into the Commonwealth, the latter during a campaign that is infamous in Ireland for its brutality) forcibly dissolved the sitting Parliament, and therefore the government, with the help of the army and arranged for his installation as "Lord Protector" in 1653—a proto-President-for-life— along with an appointed Parliament of what Cromwell regarded as worthy men and later an actually elected Parliament, though still subject to restrictions to keep out royalists naturally; Cromwell was a Puritan and his objection to the sitting Parliament had been that they were unworthy and ungodly men, and were attempting to sustain themselves indefinitely (he was against tyranny of the one, but also opposed tyranny of continuous parliaments). The new regime proved stable although on his death in 1658 power passed to his son, Richard, who was unable to control Parliament and the army and resigned his office after only nine months in power restoring the "genuine" Parliamentary republic. Another year of political turmoil demonstrated that someone was needed to restore the power vacuum that Cromwell's death had created and a new Parliament was elected—after the victorious army general George Monck had forced them to—which voted in the summer of 1660 to invite Charles' son back to take the throne thus restoring the monarchy as well as the independence of Scotland.

Charles II, unlike his father, managed to hold the country together although a major disagreement with Parliament over his intention that his Catholic brother James should succeed him lead to him dissolving Parliament and, very much in the family tradition, ruling as an absolute monarch for his remaining years. When James II came to the throne intrigues began against him immediately and, after only three years, he was deposed in a coup d'etat known as the "Glorious Revolution" in 1688 in which the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, William III of Orange, was invited to invade England and become King William III (ruling jointly with his wife Mary; James II's estranged daughter and who provided the "legal" window-dressing for William's claim and who became Mary II).

The revolt was successful, James was deposed and Parliament entered a further agreement with the new King severely limiting his powers and ensuring that another Stuart-style "tyrant" could never rule England again; it also contained a clause preventing a Catholic monarch from taking the throne, a clause which still persists. However, many monarchists believed that Parliament had no right to "choose" England's monarch in this manner and became "Jacobites", recognising the ousted line of James II as the legal monarchs of England and Scotland. This movement made two serious attempts at regaining the English throne for the Stuarts, the last in the 1740s. The 1688 "revolution" and the powerful Parliament and controlled monarchy it created is generally regarded as the basis of the modern British state. At about this time, the Whigs and Tories—predecessors of the Liberal and Conservative Parties, respectively—formed. By 1714, the Protestant branch of the House of Stuart was dead, and the German-speaking George, Elector of Hanover, became King George of Great Britain. On account of King George's near-complete ignorance of the English language and consequent relative lack of interest in his British domains, the institution of Prime Minister cropped up to administer Britain and its already considerable empire. By the time that George I's great-grandson George III (an Englishman through and through, but totally fucking batshit) inherited the throne, Parliament had definitely established its supremacy and the Prime Minister--and not the monarch--was the most important person in the state.

The modern monarch doesn't really do all that much: his or her powers are purely ceremonial, a result of Parliament taking on more and more of the monarch's remaining powers in the 18th and 19th century, helped by a succession of monarchs who were, in order, unable to speak English (George I and II), mad (George III), a total dilletante (George IV), very old and only king for seven years (William IV), a woman (Victoria) and another dilletante (Edward VII). There were only three periods when monarchs tried to assert themselves in any serious fashion, and they were ended, respectively, by losing a war in America, the death of George IV and the death of Albert. To be honest, the monarchs would barely have been able to prevent the eroding of their remaining power if they'd made the effort. While the monarch does technically have the ability to veto any act of Parliament, to refuse a nominated Prime Minister, to sack the Prime Minister if he messes up, or to mobilise the army, to actually do so would likely cause a massive public outcry as it would be going against the will of the people by virtue of going against their democratically-elected leader. It is also extremely unlikely that the monarch could face-off against the rest of the British political establishment and win (the last monarch to do anything against the will of Parliament was King William IV in the 19th century and even then his action - appointing his own choice of Prime Minister - was extremely controversial).

However, the current Queen does have one useful function. As the armed forces swear allegiance to the monarch and not to the Government, should the Prime Minister declare himself a dictatorial leader the queen can directly order them to stand down and, if necessary, turn against Westminster. This would be an awesome ending to a film, if anyone wants to make it. She also holds similar powers over most of the other nations in the Commonwealth via her Governors-General, her official representatives to the Commonwealth nations who swear allegiance to her as their head of state. The entire Australian Parliament was even dismissed by one Governor-General as recently as 1975, mainly because the politicians were arguing too much over money and how it should be spent.

Mostly, however, the monarch just drinks tea and advises the Prime Minister. Several prime ministers, among them Margaret Thatcher have attested that this is typically not just ceremony: the Queen has access to most significant government documents, and apparently, has spent several hours a day every day for the last fifty or so years going through them. There's very little she doesn't know about government policy. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is reportedly a fan of the new series of Doctor Who and plays the Wii. Contrary to popular belief, Barack Obama's gift of an iPod to the Queen was not an ill-informed faux pas; while it is true she already had one, she had previously mentioned that it was out of date and would really appreciate a new one.

The traditional way to refer to the monarch is "His/Her/Your Majesty" the first time you mention them, and then "sir" or ma'am" thereafter. In the past when more countries had monarchs, the British monarch was sometimes specifically identified as "His/Her Britannic Majesty", which still typically appears on customs documents such as passports.

Good etiquette upon meeting the monarch is for a lady to do a small curtsey, or a man to do a small bow, from the head. On presentation to The Queen, the correct formal address is 'Your Majesty' and subsequently 'Ma'am'. However, the official line from the Palace is that there there are no obligatory codes of behaviour - just courtesy.

Such was the power and scope of the British Empire that the Westminster system is still used in many Commonwealth countries, notably Australia, Canada, New Zealand, half the Caribbean, as well a number of countries that still use the system despite no longer recognizing the Queen.

See The House of Windsor for more about "Queenie" and her family in fact and fiction.

See Irish Political System for the way it works a little west.