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History and Government
History: The Romans conquered and settled the major part of the British mainland between the first and fifth centuries AD, although their influence was limited in the northern and western regions. After their withdrawal (410-442) the island was invaded by Jutes, Saxons and Angles, who established seven kingdoms in the area south of Hadrian’s Wall. Scotland and Wales remained Pictish/Celtic. By the early-ninth century Wessex had emerged as the dominant kingdom and was the spearhead of resistance to the Danish invasions, particularly during the reign of Alfred the Great.
By the time of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), England was the most highly organised state in Europe and this position was consolidated when Norman military feudal organisation was imposed by William I and his successors (notably Henry I and Henry II) after 1066. Inheritance and dynastic marriage had given England control of most of France by the 12th century, and the territorial disputes were not settled until the end of the Hundred Years’ War in 1453. The 12th century also saw the conquest of Ireland, although it was never fully integrated into the political life of the mainland (see Ireland section). The constitutional history of England between the 11th and 15th centuries can be viewed in terms of the gradual expansion of the powers of the crown and the increasing efficiency and sophistication of the monarch’s administration. This was a policy which often ran contrary to the interests of the aristocracy and on many occasions, notably during the reigns of Stephen, John, Henry III, Edward II and Richard II, constitutional conflicts developed which checked or reversed the trend; indeed the last two of these were deposed to make way for a ruler whom the barons felt would be more amenable to their wishes.
The deposition of Richard II and the accession of his cousin Henry IV of Lancaster ushered in 60 years of weak central government and low royal prestige (notwithstanding Henry V’s outstanding victory at Agincourt in 1415 and his subsequent conquest of most of France) which culminated in the dynastic conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. The throne changed hands on six occasions between 1461 and 1485, when the Tudor Henry VII defeated the Yorkist Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.
One of the most able of English monarchs, Henry VII, managed to revive the power and prestige of the crown considerably. In 1509 his son Henry VIII succeeded to a state in many ways stronger and wealthier than it had ever been before. Scotland’s political development during this period was dominated by largely unsuccessful royal attempts at centralisation; nevertheless the kingdom did manage to protect its independence in the face of constant English aggression, largely as a result of the talents of the members of the House of Stuart who managed to preserve some semblance of royal authority, despite the fact that every ruler between 1437 and 1625 came to the throne whilst a minor. Their reward came in 1603 when James VI succeeded Elizabeth I of England (see below). Wales remained as a Principality during this time, occasionally united and usually very much at the mercy of English political ambitions.
The Tudor period in England (1485–1603) witnessed several important developments: the re-establishment of central power, the break with Rome under Henry VIII, the beginnings of overseas expansion, the union of England and Wales and the flowering of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. In retrospect, possibly the most important development was the remarkable growth of the power of Parliament. Accustomed since its slightly hazy beginnings in the baronial revolts of the 1260s to representing grievances and – particularly as a consequence of Edward III’s urgent need for money to fight the French – granting taxation, the institution acquired a new purpose in the 1530s. Henry VIII used it as a vehicle for passing the Act of Supremacy and other legislation pertaining to the break with Rome, thus giving Parliament the prestige and self-confidence to interfere in and influence the affairs of state which it never lost.
Elizabeth I was succeeded by her cousin James VI of Scotland, although the formal union of the countries was not effected until 1707. The increasing power of Parliament (see above) was to prove a more effective force in curtailing the power of the crown than the medieval barons had been, and the English Civil War in the 1640s proved how real and effective this power had become: the conflict finally ended with the dramatic and, to most contemporaries, horrific spectacle of the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the establishment of a confused series of republics and protectorates during the English Revolution (1649–1660).
Despite the prodigious wealth of political ideas which surfaced in this period – which ranged from the re-establishment of the monarchy under Oliver Cromwell to the creation of an Evangelical Republic to prepare for the imminently expected Second Coming – by 1660 the Revolution had run out of viable ideas and Charles II was invited back almost on his own terms. Amazingly, within 20 years he almost managed to assert absolutism, although this opportunity finally disappeared with the abdication and flight of the unpopular (and Catholic) successor, his brother James II. On this occasion, Parliament made no mistake, inviting (this time on their terms) the Protestant William III of Orange to take the crown in 1689.
From this date on the powers of the crown became severely curtailed: his successor, Queen Anne, was the last monarch to refuse the royal assent to an Act of Parliament. The 18th century saw Great Britain’s (so-called after 1707) emergence as a major colonial and industrial power, mainly at the expense of France in such conflicts as the Seven Years’ War. The American colonies were lost in 1776, but eventual victory in the Napoleonic Wars confirmed British naval supremacy. By this time, Great Britain was one of the world’s leading military and industrial powers, having spearheaded techniques in almost every field of production during the Industrial Revolution. While the growth of the colonies provided markets and sources of raw materials, the demographic increase gave the new industries a ready supply of cheap labour, and the explosion of urban wealth and population was probably the most dramatic social change since the introduction of feudalism.
Great Britain and Ireland were formally united in 1801 under the name of the United Kingdom. The long reign of Victoria (1837–1901) is associated with the period of greatest British involvement, conquest, evangelisation and overseas settlement, as well as further domestic economic and demographic growth. At the height of empire, Britain ruled vast tracts of the globe. The legacy of empire still continues today with problems and conflicts worldwide that can be directly attributed to the drawing of national borders, not on national or ethnic lines, but as a result of colonial expansion at the dictate of commercial gain.
World War I, in which Britain suffered heavy losses, marked with hindsight the end of the old system of European and colonial empires and was followed in Britain by a depression, the first signs of an economic decline that is still evident to this day. Relations between Britain and Ireland, never good, flared into civil war in 1916, and all but the six, largely Protestant, northeastern counties became independent in 1921. The colonial possessions were given up after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and since then the outlook of the UK has been dominated by European concerns, although British influence (often covert) in the ex-colonies remains strong.
Certain vestiges of the empire, such as the Falkland Islands, Hong Kong and Gibraltar, have caused varying degrees of friction with other states. After World War II, the empire was effectively finished: the opposition of the USA, which had now assumed the mantle of the world’s principal power, saw to that. At home, the Liberal Party was challenged, and quickly overtaken, as the main opposition to the Conservative Party by the Labour Party, which had its roots in the organised labour movement which grew up around the turn of the century. Labour formed its first government under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. After a wartime coalition government of national unity – with both Labour and Conservative represented under Winston Churchill between 1940 and 1945 – Labour and Conservative have exerted a two-party stranglehold on the government of the UK.
The Labour government of 1945–51 was significant for major reforms of the health, education, housing and social service systems. The consensus started to break down in the 1970s as economic stagnation, endemic inflation and a growing trade deficit made it clear to many that the post-war prescriptions were no longer valid or relevant. It was against this background, and the decline of traditional manufacturing industries, that Margaret Thatcher came to power at the head of a government in 1979. The 1980s were a decade characterised internally by radical domestic policies of privatisation, local government reform and a revision of the tax structure – leading to the introduction of the controversial ‘Community Charge’ (‘Poll Tax’).
Thatcher went on to win general elections in 1983 and 1987. Her ‘finest hour’ was probably the military victory over the Argentinians in the South Atlantic War of 1982. Her eventual political demise in November 1990 came not from a decision of the electorate, but from worries within her own Conservative Party about the electoral consequences of her policies (especially the Poll Tax and the EU) and her single-minded approach to their implementation. Their disaffection culminated in a challenge to Thatcher’s leadership in the autumn of 1990 – MPs were then able to challenge a sitting Prime Minister under Conservative Party rules.
The challenge served to crystallise many of the misgivings felt within the party about her continuing in office. Sensing her position being undermined and that she had lost the confidence of senior colleagues, Thatcher resigned. Her successor was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Major. Major’s immediate inheritance was his predecessor’s agreement to participate in the US-led UN coalition formed to oust the Iraqis from their military occupation of Kuwait. Approximately 30,000 British service personnel eventually took part in this successful operation in early 1991.
Iraq has been a continuous foreign policy migraine for successive British governments. However, more important has been the evolution of Britain’s position in the European Union. The Maastricht agreement of 1991 took European integration far beyond the original conception of a ‘common market’, introducing major policies to harmonise legislation in the areas of social policy, immigration, policing and finance. The British were highly sceptical of some elements of the Maastricht package and negotiated exemptions from its provisions.
Despite the ousting of Thatcher, and to widespread surprise, the Conservatives won another general election victory in April 1992, albeit with a reduced majority. The opposition Labour Party, despairing at the prospect of more than 15 years out of office, embarked on a major overhaul of its policies and public image under the leadership of a new leader – Tony Blair. The self-styled ‘New Labour’ jettisoned many policies previously thought of as sacrosanct in order to capture as much as possible of the elusive ‘middle ground’ – even at the price of alienating some traditional supporters. By 1997, Labour was ready. The Conservatives were stale, bereft of ideas and dogged by ‘sleaze’ – a seemingly endless series of financial and personal scandals. The Labour victory in May 1997 was no surprise, (although the size of their majority, over 100, was unexpected). The Conservative party now experienced a taste of the political wilderness. Wracked by in-fighting and seemingly unable to produce a coherent strategy, it was in little better shape after another crushing defeat at the most recent poll in 2001.
Although the Blair government has run into some difficulties it has been sustained by a steady economic performance. Progress on the main domestic policies emphasised by the leadership, health and education, has been patchy. The Government’s failure to tackle the historic legacy of neglect and under-investment in public services (especially transport, dismissed by Blair in 1997 as ‘not a priority’) is now becoming a serious problem. And, in an ironic reflection of its Conservative predecessor, the Blair government has been dogged by a series of financial scandals involving donations by tycoons to the Labour party in exchange for favourable policy decisions. The most important economic decision facing the government – whether or not to join the ‘eurozone’, which has now been in operation throughout most of the EU for four years – has been consistently ducked by the Blair government. The country is deeply split over the issue: the government appears, on balance, to favour entry, but is unwilling to risk the probable electoral fall-out.
Among its principal achievements has been the introduction of a working system of devolution for Wales and Scotland, which now have their own assemblies for a wide range of domestic powers, and the continued functioning (broadly speaking) of the Northern Ireland peace process.
By the beginning of 2003 it was, perhaps surprisingly, the foreign policy arena that was causing the greatest problems for the government. Despite their ideological differences, the British have allied themselves firmly to the US strategy of seeking a means to dispose once and for all of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. By the end of February 2003, it was all but certain that tens of thousands of British troops would be committed to the operation along with even larger numbers of Americans. Again, the nation is divided: the strength of opposition has been evident from the largest demonstrations ever seen in Britain, but the government appears determined to follow the war path, judging – maybe correctly – that once British forces are in action, the nation will rally behind them. The problems are likely to begin later on when, assuming the overthrow of Saddam, a new government will have to be constructed.
Government: The United Kingdom is an hereditary monarchy, with real power being held by the Prime Minister, who is the leader of the largest parliamentary party and the head of the Cabinet. The two main political parties are the Conservatives (Tories) and Labour, although a centre party (the Liberal-SDP Alliance, later merged as the Liberal Democrats) threatened to disturb this old balance in the mid-1980s. None of the major British parties holds seats in Northern Ireland, where the political map is carved up between Unionist and Nationalist parties Scotland and Wales return a handful of Nationalist MPs. The absence of proportional representation in parliamentary elections does not encourage the prosperity of smaller parties in Britain. Elections must be held every five years, though the timing is at the discretion of the Prime Minister. The legislature is bicameral; the House of Commons is elected, while the House of Lords is a peculiar mixture of appointed members, judges, bishops and hereditary peers. Britain is almost unique in the world in having no written constitution, and the political and administrative machine is powered by a mixture of common and statute law, judicial decisions and archaic convention; the royal assent to an Act of Parliament, for instance, is still proclaimed in Norman French.
Copyright © 2003 Columbus Publishing Ltd.
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