United Kingdom

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Politics of the United Kingdom take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government. ...

Parliament State Opening of Parliament Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II House of Lords Lord Speaker: Baroness Hayman House of Commons Speaker: Michael Martin Prime Minister's Questions Her Majesty's Government Cabinet Prime Minister: Tony Blair Deputy Prime Minister: John Prescott Chancellor of the Exchequer: Gordon Brown Foreign Secretary: Margaret Beckett Home Secretary: John Reid Lord Chancellor: Lord Falconer of Thoroton The Privy Council Government departments The Civil Service Official Opposition Leader of the Opposition: David Cameron Shadow Cabinet Courts of the United Kingdom Courts of England and Wales Courts of Northern Ireland Courts of Scotland Constituent countries Scottish Parliament Scottish Executive National Assembly for Wales Welsh Assembly Government Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland Executive Reserved matters Local government Greater London Authority Elections: 2001 - 2005 - 2009/10 Political parties Constitution Human rights Foreign relations EU Politics

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The Official Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet (normally referred to simply as 'The Shadow Cabinet') is, in British parliamentary practice, a group of members from Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition whose job it is to scrutinise their opposite numbers in government and come up with alternative policies. Since the Conservative Party has been, since 1997, Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, its leadership therefore forms the current Shadow Cabinet. The Houses of Parliament, seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event held usually in October or November that marks the commencement of a session of Parliament. ... The British Monarchy is a shared monarchy. ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... The Lord Speaker (or Lady Speaker) will be a new position in the British Parliament created once the Constitutional Reform Acts provisions about the Speakership of the House of Lords comes into effect. ... Hélène Valerie Hayman, Baroness Hayman, PC, née Middleweek (born 26 March 1949) is a Labour policitian. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, and is seen historically as the First Commoner of the Land. ... Michael John Martin MP (born 3 July 1945) is the current Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. ... Prime Ministers Questions is a Parliamentary practice in the United Kingdom where every Wednesday when the House of Commons is sitting, the Prime Minister spends half an hour answering questions from MPs. ... Her Majestys Government, or when the sovereign is male, His Majestys Government, abbreviated HMG, is the formal title used by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the governments of some other kingdoms where executive authority is theoretically vested in the monarch... In the Politics of the United Kingdom, the Cabinet is a formal body comprised of government officials chosen by the Prime Minister. ... The Prime Minister is in practice the most important political office in the United Kingdom. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the UK Labour Party, and Member of the UK Parliament... The office of Deputy Prime Minister is one that has only existed occasionally in the history of the United Kingdom. ... John Leslie Prescott MP (born May 31, 1938) is a British Labour Party politician, Deputy Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Member of Parliament for the north east constituency of Hull East. ... The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British cabinet minister responsible for all financial matters. ... James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom and a Labour Party politician. ... The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (commonly referred to as Foreign Secretary) is a member of the British Government responsible for relations with foreign countries, heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (often called simply the Foreign Office). ... The Rt Hon. ... The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the United Kingdom Home Office and is responsible for internal affairs in England and Wales, and for immigration and citizenship for the whole United Kingdom (including Scotland and Northern Ireland). ... John Reid (born 8 May 1947) is a British politician who is Home Secretary and Member of Parliament for the Scottish constituency of Airdrie and Shotts. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... Lord Falconer of Thoroton Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, PC, QC (born 19 November 1951) is a British barrister and Labour Party politician. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... Her Majestys Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of Ministers and Secretaries of State these members of the Cabinet are supported by civil servants in Ministerial Departments. ... The British civil service is the permanent bureaucracy that supports the Government Ministers responsible to the Sovereign and Parliament in administering the United Kingdom. ... Her Majestys Loyal Opposition, or the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom is the largest opposition party in the House of Commons. ... The Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is the politician who leads Her Majestys Most Loyal Opposition. ... David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician, Leader of the Conservative Party, and Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. ... The United Kingdom does not have a single unified judicial system: England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland another. ... Schematic of court system for England and Wales The United Kingdom does not have a single unified judicial system—England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. ... The United Kingdom does not have a single unified judicial system — England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. ... The Courts of Scotland are the civil, criminal and heraldic courts responsible for the administration of justice in Scotland. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... The Scottish Parliaments logo in English and Gaelic. ... The Executives logo, shown with English and Scottish Gaelic caption The term Scottish Executive is used in two different, but closely-related senses: to denote the executive arm of Scotlands national legislature (i. ... Regional proportion of Yes vote in the 1997 referendum. ... The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) (Welsh: Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru, LlCC) is the executive body of the National Assembly for Wales, consisting of the First Minister and his Cabinet. ... The Northern Ireland Assembly is a home rule legislature established in Northern Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, but currently under suspension. ... The Northern Ireland Executive as established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 is the (currently suspended) executive body for Northern Ireland, answerable to the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... In Scotland reserved matters, also referred to as reserved powers, are those subjects over which power to legislate is retained by Westminster, as explicitly stated in the Scotland Act 1998. ... There is no single system of local government in the United Kingdom. ... The Greater London Authority (GLA) administers the 1579 km² (610 sq. ... The United Kingdom has five distinct types of elections: general, local, regional, European and mayoral. ... Tony Blair William Hague Charles Kennedy The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005. ... Under the provisions of the Parliament Act 1911, the next United Kingdom general election must be held on or before 3 June, 2010. ... This is a list of political parties in the United Kingdom. ... The United Kingdom has a long and established tradition of respect for its citizens human rights. ... British Prime Minister Tony Blair (left) conducting diplomacy, hosted by the President of the United States, George W. Bush at Camp David in March 2003. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... Her Majestys Loyal Opposition, or the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom is the largest opposition party in the House of Commons. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ... The Shadow Cabinet (also called the Shadow Front Bench) is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition (or the leader of other smaller opposition parties) form an alternative cabinet to the governments, whose...

Not every Conservative frontbench spokesman is a member of the Shadow Cabinet, which represents the most senior spokesmen only (usually around 20). The frontbench of Her Majestys Loyal Opposition consists of the Shadow Cabinet and other official spokesmen of the political party currently serving as the Official Opposition. ...

In recent years the Liberal Democrats have started to style their senior front-bench team as a Shadow Cabinet although convention has usually only applied the title to the senior front-bench team of the principle opposition party. The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. ...

The Current Shadow Cabinet

As of May 2006, the current shadow cabinet is: May 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → May 1, 2006 (Monday) Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association outraged Vatican by planning to ordain another bishop, Liu Xinhong in Anhui Province. ...

Oliver Letwin Oliver Letwin PC (born May 19, 1956, Hampstead), British Member of Parliament for West Dorset, and Chairman of the Policy Review and Chairman of the Conservative Research Department. ...

See also

• Official Opposition (UK)
• Cabinet of the United Kingdom
• Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team

Her Majestys Loyal Opposition, or the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom is the largest opposition party in the House of Commons. ... In the Politics of the United Kingdom, the Cabinet is a formal body comprised of government officials chosen by the Prime Minister. ... The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. ...

External links

• Conservative Party - Shadow Cabinet
• Conservative front bench BBC News