Anthony Barnett on "How the British manage power transitions"

Anthony Barnett — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:12:13 +0100

It is very interesting looking at changes of power in the UK through Russian eyes. Peter Riddell's description is accurate, but does it capture the spirit of the thing? I think it was Molotov who once said of the USA that it was a one-party state with two parties!

In terms of the governing machine, it is important to register that in Britain until recently and in a different way in France and Germany, there is a permanent civil service. In the US the incoming president does not just appoint a new cabinet, they in turn appoint their own chief executives to run their departments whereas in the UK a new government will inherit the same people running all the great departments of state.

Second, there is an important difference between changes of Prime Minister from the same party where the transition is often 'fixed' as it was by the Conservatives from Churchill to Eden to Macmillan to Home, and as it was between Wilson and Callaghan and now Blair and Brown; and transitions between different parties after one of them has lost a general election.

Then there is the wider influence of what has been called the 'Political Class' in a study by Peter Oborne - an outstanding, independent minded right-wing journalist. This class includes the media and various para-state organisations and think-tanks. They are not as defined as a nomenklatura. But there is a definite sense that while each new leader tells the voters that they represent "change"... Gordon Brown, for example, said "Let the change begin" and went on about "change" time after time when he replaced Tony Blair but he is now seen as representing continuity.

How the British manage power transitions, Peter Riddell

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:35:29 +0100

oD: What's to stop a serving Prime Minister from going on and on in office?

PR: A British Prime Minister serves only as long as he or she has a majority in the House of Commons. Normally, this is ended when the governing party loses a general election and the leader of the winning party becomes PM-- as in 1945, 1951, 1964, 1970, 1974, 1979 and 1997.

Very rarely, only twice in the 20th century, did a PM lose a vote of confidence in the Commons. This happened most recently in March 1979. The ruling Labour Party was in a minority and other parties would not back it in a vote of confidence. The then PM, James Callaghan, immediately announced a general election. This took place five weeks later. Margaret Thatcher's Tories won and she became PM.

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Anthony Barnett on "How the British manage power transitions"

How the British manage power transitions, Peter Riddell