Government > Leaders Stats: compare key data on Thailand & United Kingdom

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STAT	Thailand	United Kingdom	HISTORY
Head of state	King Bhumibol Adulyadej	Queen Elizabeth II
Head of state > Profile	<p>Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. </p> <p>Its king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, assumed the throne in June 1946 and is the world&#039;s longest-reigning monarch. </p> <p>The royal family is revered by many Thais.</p> <p>Thailand has strict lese-majeste laws, and those deemed to have offended the monarchy - which is still a powerful force in the country - are often dealt with severely.</p>	<p>Elizabeth II became queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1952 upon the death of her father, George VI.</p> <p>She is the second longest serving head of state, after the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was crowned in 1946.</p> <p>She is also head of state of 16 independent countries including Canada and Australia.</p> <p>As a constitutional monarch, her role in the legislative process is largely ceremonial.</p>
Head of state > Summary	King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit	Queen Elizabeth is head of state of 16 countries
Prime minister	Yingluck Shinawatra	David Cameron
Prime minister > Profile	<p>Yingluck Shinawatra, the youngest sister of ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, led the opposition Pheu Thai party to a landslide victory in July 2011 and became Thailand&#039;s first woman prime minister.</p><p>In the country&#039;s first general election since 2007, Pheu Thai won 265 seats out of a possible 500 - enough to form a single-party government. </p> <p>However, in what was seen as a shrewd political move, the party announced it would form a coalition with four smaller parties, thus broadening its support in parliament for promised reforms. </p> <p>Ms Yingluck, aged 44 at the time of her election and a successful businesswoman, promised to bring stability and reconciliation to what had for some years been a deeply polarised country. However, critics were quick to point out her inexperience, given that she had never before run for office nor held a government post. </p> <p>The influence of her brother, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and convicted of graft two years later, loomed large throughout the election and beyond. Despite living in self-imposed exile, Thaksin Shinawatra is still seen by many as pulling the strings of government behind the scenes.</p> <p>The opposition claimed that Ms Yingluck&#039;s primary role was to marshal the Thaksin faithful - the mainly poor rural voters who kept him in power - and serve as his proxy as he governed from abroad. </p> <p>Though Thailand enjoyed relative stability for the first two years of Ms Yingluck&#039;s premiership, an attempt to pass a political amnesty bill in the autumn of 2013 - which would have allowed Mr Thaksin to return from exile without serving his jail term - reignited simmering political tensions.</p> <p>The opposition brought its supporters out onto the streets in their tens of thousands, and mass protests continued for months.</p> <p>In December, Ms Yingluck dissolved the lower house of parliament and called early elections for February 2014 in a bid to defuse the crisis. This does not appear to have satisfied the opposition, which continues to call for her to step down and has announced that it will boycott the elections.</p> <p>Analysts say that despite the protests, Ms Yingluck still enjoys a strong rural support base, which could be enough to return her to power in the next elections.</p> <p>Yingluck Shinawatra has degrees in politics and before running for election she had a corporate career in telecommunications and property. She is married and has one son. </p>	<p>David Cameron became prime minister at the head of a coalition government on 11 May 2010, returning his centre-right Conservative Party to power after 13 years of rule by the centre-left Labour Party.</p> <p>Mr Cameron formed a partnership with the third party, the traditionally social liberal Liberal Democrats, after an inconclusive parliamentary election from which the Conservatives emerged with the largest number of seats, but without an absolute majority.</p> <p>It is the first formal coalition government in 70 years to govern the UK, where the electoral system usually guarantees a majority for the largest party.</p> <p>The partnership has proved fractious, with Mr Cameron at times seen as struggling to maintain discipline. Several constitutional reform projects - including plans for an elected upper house of parliament and changes to voting for the lower house - have fallen by the wayside as a result of deep differences between the two parties.</p> <p>Deep cuts</span> <p>On coming to power, the new PM was confronted by a daunting economic situation, with the UK only slowly emerging from a deep recession caused by the 2008 global financial collapse, and facing a rapidly mounting budget deficit.</p> <p>Mr Cameron promised that cutting the deficit would be his top priority. In October 2010, Mr Cameron&#039;s government announced a programme of deep cuts in government spending - the UK&#039;s largest in generations.</p> <p>In late 2013, improved growth estimates and employment figures suggested the economic gloom may be lifting, but concerns remained about the sustainability of the recovery, as well continuing pressure on household finances.</p> <p>All of this came against the background of the continuing crisis in the eurozone, and Mr Cameron has faced pressure from the right of his party to distance Britain further from any deeper European Union integration. </p> <p>The prime minister sought to ease this tension in 2013 by proposing a referendum on whether to leave the European Union after the next election, although this faces opposition from both the Liberal Democrats and Labour.</p> <p>Born the son of a wealthy stockbroker in 1966 in London, Mr Cameron was educated at Eton College - Britain&#039;s top private school - and Oxford University. Aged 43 on coming to power, he was the youngest prime minister since 1812.</p>
Prime minister > Summary	Thailand enjoyed a period of relative stability for the first two years of Ms Yingluck&#039;s premiership	David Cameron heads a coalition government

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