Choosing, moving and resigning at Westminster, UK 1

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. The current queen, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended to the throne in 1953 following the death of her father. There are two Houses of Parliament at Westminster, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Throughout the twentieth century (certainly since 1911 when powers were transferred) the Commons has been the dominant house, and not since Lord Salisbury (who resigned in July 1902) has there been any Prime Minister from the Lords. Though ministers are still drawn from the Lords, the major offices of state sit in the Commons (the appointment of Lord Carrington as Foreign Secretary in 1979 was considered unusual). The Commons is now elected from around 650 constituencies in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ² From the time of the 1911 Parliament Act the House of Lords has provided oversight of legislation, able to amend and reject legislation but without the ability to block money bills or to delay other public bills beyond a maximum of two parliamentary sessions (one session since the 1949 Parliament Act). ³ Non-controversial public bills and private bills can also be initiated there. It was constituted of hereditary peers and, since the 1958 Life Peerages Act, peers ennobled by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister could sit, speak and vote in the Lords but could not pass their peerages on to their heirs. The hereditary nature of the Lords gave the Conservatives an inbuilt majority. The 1999 House of Lords Act removed the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords with the exception of 92 of them (elected by their fellows from the 759 hereditary peers in 1999) as an interim measure to full reform. ⁴ From 1999 the total membership of the Lords was reduced from 1,295 to 695.