If a minister cannot agree with all the others, he usually resigns from the cabinet. Cabinet meetings are held in private and the details must remain secret for at least 30 years. It has been argu ed that Margaret Thatcher tried to change this st yle of cabinet and she was forced to resign when the other ministers could not agree with her. Cabinet ministers cannot, however. do as they please! They are responsible to Parliament and must answer questions from. backbenchers in the House of Coinmons. Even the Prime Minister must answer questions every Tuesday and Thursday in the Commons - this is called Prime Minister's Question Time and can be one of the most interesting discussions in British politics. Everyone wants to know what has been decided behind the closed doors of the Cabinet Room! Britain is administered from the Palace of Westminster in London. This is also known as the Houses of Parliament. Parliament is made up of two chambers - the House of
|| There are no tables for the MPs. They also have no obvious place to address each other from. They can walk in and out during the debates. There are no names on the benches so the MPs sit down just wherever they find the room. The Atmosphere of Parliament Fairly informal atmosphere. People don't have their own exact place/territory so they feel like they must co-operate. Although they have divided themselves into frontbenchers (leading members of the government and opposition) and the backbenchers (people who don't own a meaningful post). MPs have nowhere to address each other from, they have nowhere to put their notes so that means that they speak in a very conversational tone and not for a very long time. The organization of the Parliament is historic because in the history the House of Commons met in a church and now the Parliament looks like one. When the MPs address each other they don't say the names directly but they address them as "my right honourable friend from Winchester" etc
chairs the House of Commons Commission. The current Speaker is John Bercow, MP for Buckingham. Frontbenchers In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench (or front bench) and are described as frontbenchers. Those sitting behind them are known as backbenchers. Independent and minority parties sit to the side, and are referred to as crossbenchers. Backbenchers In Westminster parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a Member of Parliament (MP) or a legislator who holds no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the "rank and file". The Official Opposition The frontbench of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in
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