Part 3. Executive Power
The election is held every 5 years. The leader of the party which obtains a majority of seats in a general election is named Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally asked by the Sovereign to recommend a group of ministers to form a Government.
About 20 of these ministers, both from the Commons and the Lords, are invited by the Prime Minister to form the Cabinet. They are in charge of major Government departments and ministries run by civil servants¹, who are permanent officials. Even if the Government changes after an election, the same civil servants are employed.
The Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister is responsible for deciding policies² and controlling and co-ordinating government administration. The meetings of the Cabinet are always secret. When a decision has been made an individual minister must either support it or resign, because the Cabinet acts as one body with "collective responsibility". The Prime Minister has considerable individual power to introduce and control policies, to change the Cabinet by appointing new ministers, dismissing old ones, or "reshuffling "³ the Cabinet by moving its members to other Cabinet posts. He is the actual ruler of the country.
The main Opposition раrtу forms a Shadow Cabinet, similar to the Cabinet in power4, and the relevant members act as opposition ministers. At present there are two main political parties in Great Britain: the Conservative party and the the Labour party. The other parties are: the Liberal, the Communist and the Social-Democratic party. Since 1945 the Conservatives and Labour have been either the Government or the Opposition.
Vocabulary
a)actual, (political) body, considerable, decision, department, major, ministry, an official, permanent, policy, relevant, responsibility, ruler, seat, shadow;
b) to be held, to obtain, to form, to run, to govern, to introduce, to employ, to resign, to dismiss, to move, to decide a policy, to be in charge (of), to be responsible (for), to be in power.
Notes on the text
1. a civil servant - правительственный чиновник
2. to decide a policy - определять политику, линию поведения, меры
3. reshuffling - перестановка
4. in power - у власти
Exercises
1.Practice the pronunciation of the following words: civil [`sIvIl], govern [`gAvqn],
major [`meIGq], actual [`xktjuql], employ [Imp`lOI], considerable [kqn`sIdqrqbl],
reshuffle [rI`Safl], permanent [`pWmqnqnt], ruler [`rHlq], dismiss[dIs`mIs].
2.Use these words and expressions from the text to fill the gaps in the following sentences: constituencies, opposition, civil servants, general election, a Shadow Cabinet, to be responsible.
1.The United Kingdom is divided into 650 parliamentary ... .
2.A ... takes place every five years.
3.While the Conservatives were in power, Labour formed the official... .
4.The main opposition раrtу forms a ... .
5.Major government departments and ministries are run by ... .
6.The Cabinet with the Prime Minister at the head . . . for deciding policies
and controlling and coordinating government administration.
3.Turn the following nouns into adjectives: parliament, ceremony, administration, constitution, politics, responsibility, election.
4.Use the information given in the text to answer the questions:
1. What is "collective responsibility"?
2. What is a Shadow Cabinet?
3. Why is the Prime Minister considered to be the actual ruler of the country?
4. What is the difference between the Government and the Cabinet?
5.Make one sentence from the following set of words.
1.are invited, 20 ministers, to form;
2. meetings, secret, Cabinet;
3. power, Prime Minister, to change;
4. parties, largest, Conservatives and Labour.
6.Answer the following questions to obtain the summary of the text.
1. How often are general elections held?
2. What is the supreme executive power in the state?
3. How is the Prime Minister chosen in Britain?
4. Who forms the Government the Cabinet?
5. What is the Cabinet responsible for?
6. Who runs departments and ministries?
7. How does the Cabinet act?
8. What are the main functions of the Prime Minister?
9. Who forms a Shadow Cabinet?
10. How many political parties are there in Britain?
11. Which are the largest political parties?
7.Read the following paragraph and answer the following questions:
What is the origin of the word “establishment?
What meaning does it have now?
The word “establishment” has been in use for a long time, meaning the established Church, i.e., the Church of England, which is linked with the Crown and the State. In the middle of the 20th century it came to be used in a much wider sense to describe the ruling class in general. It implies the whole group of people and institutions enjoying positions of established privilege and superiority, e.g., the aristocracy, the Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, the Bank of England. It indicates the existing power structure in society – powerful institutions and people with their traditional views.
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