1.
Member of the British House of Commons
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The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is the lower house of the countrys parliament. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster, officially, the full name of the house is, The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled. The House is a body consisting of 650 members known as Members of Parliament. Members are elected to represent constituencies by first-past-the-post and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved, under the Parliament Act 1911, the Lords power to reject legislation was reduced to a delaying power. The Government is primarily responsible to the House of Commons and the prime minister stays in office only as long as he or she retains the support of a majority of its members. Although it does not formally elect the prime minister, the position of the parties in the House of Commons is of overriding importance, by convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Since 1963, by convention, the minister is always a member of the House of Commons. The Commons may indicate its lack of support for the Government by rejecting a motion of confidence or by passing a motion of no confidence, confidence and no confidence motions are sometimes phrased explicitly, for instance, That this House has no confidence in Her Majestys Government. Many other motions were considered confidence issues, even though not explicitly phrased as such, in particular, important bills that form a part of the Governments agenda were formerly considered matters of confidence, as is the annual Budget. Parliament normally sits for a term of five years. Subject to that limit, the minister could formerly choose the timing of the dissolution of parliament. By this second mechanism, the government of the United Kingdom can change without a general election. In such circumstances there may not even have been a party leadership election, as the new leader may be chosen by acclaim. A prime minister may resign if he or she is not defeated at the polls. In such a case, the premiership goes to whoever can command a majority in the House of Commons, in practice this is usually the new leader of the outgoing prime ministers party. Until 1965, the Conservative Party had no mechanism for electing a new leader, when Anthony Eden resigned as PM in 1957 without recommending a successor and it fell to the Queen to appoint Harold Macmillan as the new prime minister, after taking the advice of ministers. By convention, all ministers must be members of the House of Commons or of the House of Lords, a handful have been appointed who were outside Parliament, but in most cases they then entered Parliament either in a by-election or by receiving a peerage. Since 1902, all ministers have been members of the Commons
Member of the British House of Commons
Member of the British House of Commons
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House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Member of the British House of Commons
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The House of Commons in the early 19th century by
Augustus Pugin and
Thomas Rowlandson.
Member of the British House of Commons
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Another picture of the old House of Commons chamber. Note the dark veneer on the wood, which was purposely made much brighter in the new chamber.
2.
Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
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The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdoms lower chamber of Parliament. The office is held by John Bercow, who was initially elected on 22 June 2009. He was returned as an MP in the 2010 general election and was re-elected as Speaker when the House sat at the start of the new Parliament on 18 May 2010. He was again returned as an MP in the 2015 general election and was re-elected, unopposed, the Speaker presides over the Houses debates, determining which members may speak. The Speaker is also responsible for maintaining order during debate, the Speaker does not take part in debate or vote. Aside from duties relating to presiding over the House, the Speaker also performs administrative and procedural functions, the Speaker has the right and obligation to reside in Speakers House at the Palace of Westminster. The office of Speaker is almost as old as Parliament itself, the earliest year for which a presiding officer has been identified is 1258, when Peter de Montfort presided over the Parliament held in Oxford. Early presiding officers were known by the title parlour or prolocutor, Edward III was frail and in seclusion, his prestigious eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, terminally ill. It was left to the son, a furious John of Gaunt. He arrested De la Mare and disgraced other leading critics, in the next, Bad Parliament, in 1377, a cowed Commons put forward Gaunts steward, Thomas Hungerford, as their spokesman in retracting their predecessors misdoings of the previous year. On 6 October 1399, Sir John Cheyne of Beckford was elected speaker, the powerful Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, is said to have voiced his fears of Cheynes reputation as a critic of the Church. Eight days later, Cheyne resigned on grounds of ill-health, although he remained in favour with the king, in such a situation, the influence of the speaker should not be underestimated. Sir Thomas More was the first speaker to go on to become Lord Chancellor, until the 17th century, members of the House of Commons often continued to view their Speaker as an agent of the Crown. As Parliament evolved, however, the Speakers position grew into one that involved more duties to the House than to the Crown, such was definitely the case by the time of the English Civil War. This change is said to be reflected by an incident in 1642. The development of Cabinet government under King William III in the late 17th century caused further change in the nature of the Speakership, Speakers were generally associated with the ministry, and often held other government offices. For example, Robert Harley served simultaneously as Speaker and as a Secretary of State between 1704 and 1705, the Speaker between 1728 and 1761, Arthur Onslow, reduced ties with the government, though the office did remain to a large degree political. The Speakership evolved into its modern form—in which the holder is an impartial and apolitical officer who does not belong to any party—only during the middle of the 19th century, over 150 individuals have served as Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
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Incumbent
John Bercow since 22 June 2009
Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
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William Court Gully
Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
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Henry Addington in state robes.
3.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
Elizabeth II
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The Queen in March 2015
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by
Philip de László, 1933
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth in
Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
4.
Gordon Brown
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James Gordon Brown is a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Blair Government from 1997 to 2007, Brown was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2015, first for Dunfermline East and later for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. A doctoral graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Brown spent his career working as both a lecturer at a further education college and a television journalist. He entered Parliament in 1983 as the MP for Dunfermline East and he joined the Shadow Cabinet in 1989 as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade, and was later promoted to become Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1992. After Labours victory in 1997, he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 2007, Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister and Labour Leader and Brown was chosen to replace him in an uncontested election. Brown remained in office as Labour negotiated to form a government with the Liberal Democrats. On 10 May 2010, Brown announced he would stand down as leader of the Labour Party, Labours attempts to retain power failed and on 11 May, he officially resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by David Cameron, and as Leader of the Labour Party by Ed Miliband, later, Brown played a prominent role in the campaign surrounding the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, galvanising support behind maintaining the union. Brown was born at the Orchard Maternity Nursing Home in Giffnock, Renfrewshire and his father was John Ebenezer Brown, a minister of the Church of Scotland and a strong influence on Brown. He died in December 1998, aged 84 and his mother, Jessie Elizabeth Brown, known as Bunty, died on 19 September 2004, aged 86. She was the daughter of John Souter, a timber merchant, the family moved to Kirkcaldy – then the largest town in Fife, across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh – when Gordon was three. Brown was brought up there with his elder brother John and younger brother Andrew Brown in a manse, in common with many other notable Scots, he is therefore often referred to as a son of the manse. At age sixteen he wrote that he loathed and resented this ludicrous experiment on young lives and he was accepted by the University of Edinburgh to study history at the same early age of sixteen. During an end-of-term rugby union match at his old school, he received a kick to the head and this left him blind in his left eye, despite treatment including several operations and weeks spent lying in a darkened room. Later at Edinburgh, while playing tennis, he noticed the symptoms in his right eye. Brown underwent experimental surgery at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and his eye was saved. In his youth at the University of Edinburgh, Brown was involved in a relationship with Margarita. Margarita said about it, It was a solid and romantic story
Gordon Brown
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Brown as Prime Minister, c. 2009
Gordon Brown
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Gordon Brown speaking at the annual
World Bank /
IMF meeting in 2002
Gordon Brown
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Gordon Brown and President of the United States George W. Bush meet at Downing Street
Gordon Brown
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Gordon Brown meets British troops during a visit to Basra, 2007
5.
David Cameron
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David William Donald Cameron is a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. He served as the Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016 and was Member of Parliament for Witney from 2001 to 2016, Cameron identifies as a One-Nation Conservative, and has been associated with both economically liberal and socially liberal policies. Born in London to wealthy upper middle-class parents, Cameron was educated at Heatherdown School, Eton College, from 1988 to 1993 he worked at the Conservative Research Department, assisting the Conservative Prime Minister John Major, before leaving politics to work for Carlton Communications in 1994. Becoming an MP in 2001, he served in the shadow cabinet under Conservative leader Michael Howard. Cameron sought to rebrand the Conservatives, embracing an increasingly liberal position. The 2010 general election led to Cameron becoming Prime Minister as the head of a government with the Liberal Democrats. His administration introduced large-scale changes to welfare, immigration policy, education and it privatised the Royal Mail and some other state assets, and legalised same-sex marriage. When the Conservatives secured a majority in the 2015 general election he remained as Prime Minister. To fulfil a manifesto pledge, he introduced a referendum on the UKs continuing membership of the EU, Cameron supported continued membership, following the success of the Leave vote, he resigned to make way for a new Prime Minister and was succeeded by Theresa May. Cameron has been praised for modernising the Conservative Party and for decreasing the United Kingdoms national deficit, conversely, he has been criticised by figures on both the left and right, and has been accused of political opportunism and elitism. Cameron is the son of Ian Donald Cameron a stockbroker, and his wife Mary Fleur, a retired Justice of the Peace. Camerons parents were married on 20 October 1962, the journalist Toby Young has described Camerons background as being upper-upper-middle class. Cameron was born in Marylebone, London, and raised in Peasemore, Berkshire and he has a brother, Alexander Cameron, QC, a barrister, and two sisters, Tania Rachel and Clare Louise. Blairmore was built by Camerons great-great-grandfather, Alexander Geddes, who had made a fortune in the trade in Chicago, Illinois. Blairmore was sold soon after Ians birth, Cameron has said, On my mothers side of the family, her mother was a Llewellyn, so Welsh. Im a real mixture of Scottish, Welsh, and English and he has also referenced the German Jewish ancestry of one of his great-grandfathers, Arthur Levita, a descendant of the Yiddish author Elia Levita. From the age of seven, Cameron was educated at two independent schools, at Heatherdown School in Winkfield in Berkshire, which counts Prince Andrew, owing to good grades, Cameron entered its top academic class almost two years early. At the age of thirteen, he went on to Eton College in Berkshire and his early interest was in art
David Cameron
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The Right Honourable David Cameron
MP
David Cameron
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Chapel of Eton College
David Cameron
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Brasenose College, Oxford
David Cameron
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The
Home Office building Cameron worked at during the 1990s
6.
Theresa May
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Theresa Mary May is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party, having served as both since July 2016. She has been the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead since 1997, may identifies as a one-nation conservative and has been characterised as a liberal conservative. She is the second female Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader after Margaret Thatcher, the daughter of a vicar, May grew up in Oxfordshire. From 1977 until 1983, she worked for the Bank of England, after unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons in 1992 and 1994, she was elected as the MP for Maidenhead in the 1997 general election. She was also Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003, after the formation of a coalition government following the 2010 general election, May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, giving up the latter role in 2012. Reappointed after the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election, she went on to become the longest-serving Home Secretary since James Chuter Ede over 60 years previously. She won the first and second ballot of Conservative MPs by a significant margin and was due to face a vote of Conservative Party members in a contest with Andrea Leadsom, leadsoms withdrawal from the election on 11 July led to Mays appointment as party leader the same day. She was appointed Prime Minister on 13 July, as Prime Minister, Mays focus has primarily been on withdrawing the UK from the European Union. Born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex, May is the child of Zaidee Mary. Her father was a Church of England clergyman who was chaplain of an Eastbourne hospital and he later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop and finally of St Marys at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford. Mays mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party. May was educated primarily in the sector but with a short spell at an independent Catholic school. She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a school in Heythrop, followed by St. Julianas Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke. At the age of 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls Grammar School, during her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised and the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School. May then attended the University of Oxford where she read geography at St Hughs College, between 1977 and 1983 May worked at the Bank of England, and from 1985 to 1997 as a financial consultant and senior advisor in International Affairs at the Association for Payment Clearing Services. Both Mays parents died during this period, her father in a car accident in 1981, may served as a councillor for Durnsford ward on the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman. May then stood at the 1994 Barking by-election, which was prompted by the death of Labour MP Jo Richardson. The seat had been held by Labour since it was created in 1945 and Labour candidate Margaret Hodge was expected to win easily
Theresa May
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The Right Honourable Theresa May
MP
Theresa May
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St Hugh's College, Oxford
Theresa May
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May with
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron.
Theresa May
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May speaks at a reception for the Muslim feast of
Eid al-Adha, 21 September 2010
7.
Alan Haselhurst
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He was Chairman of Ways and Means from 14 May 1997 to 8 June 2010, and later Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association between 2011-14. He is currently the oldest Conservative MP and he was elected President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1958 and, for two years, served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Oxford Union from 1959. Before his election to Parliament, he worked in management in the chemicals industry and he was the Chairman of the Manchester Youth and Community Service from 1974 until being returned to Parliament. Haselhurst worked as an agent for Robin Balniel, Conservative MP for Hertford. Being elected in 1964, he served for two years as the Chairman of the National Young Conservatives. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1970 general election for the Lancashire seat of Middleton and Prestwich, however, Haselhurst lost the seat at the next February 1974 general election to Labour by just 517 votes. The Conservative MP for the Essex seat of Saffron Walden, Sir Peter Kirk, died on 17 April 1977, Haselhurst won the seat with a majority of 12,437 and has been returned as the constituencys MP ever since. He served on the European Legislation Select Committee for fifteen years from 1982 and he was invited to ask the first question in Margaret Thatchers final Prime Ministers Questions on 27 November 1990. Following the 1997 general election, he was elected Chairman of Ways and Means, remaining in that post under successive Speakers Betty Boothroyd, Michael Martin, Haselhurst was a contender to succeed Michael Martin after Martins resignation as Commons Speaker on 19 May 2009. Haselhurst was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum and he was elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Associations Executive committee, serving until October 2014, overseeing parliamentary procedure throughout the Commonwealth. Alan Haselhurst married Angela Margaret Bailey on 16 April 1977, and he is a very vocal supporter of community-based projects and was for a time a Director of Turning Point, a charity working with socially excluded young people, for five years from 1981. A noted Europhile, he is regarded as a one-nation Conservative and he was knighted in 1995 and sworn of the Privy Council in 1999. Saffron Walden Profile, dodonline. co. uk, accessed 21 October 2015
Alan Haselhurst
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The Right Honourable Sir Alan Haselhurst
MP
8.
Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn
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Michael John Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, PC is a British politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Glasgow Springburn from 1979 to 2005, and then for Glasgow North East until 2009. He was a Labour Party MP until his election as the Speaker of the House of Commons in 2000, on his election to the post of Speaker in 2000 he was the first Roman Catholic to serve in the role since the Reformation. He resigned from the position on 21 June 2009 as a result of diminishing parliamentary and he also stood down from the House of Commons on the following day. Martin was born in Glasgow in 1945, the son of a merchant seaman and he attended St Patricks Boys School in Anderston, leaving at the age of 15 to become an apprentice sheet-metal worker. He became involved in the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Coppersmiths and he later worked in the Rolls-Royce plant at Hillington, and was an Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union shop steward from 1970 to 1974. In 1973, Martin was elected as a Labour councillor on Glasgow Corporation and he also served as a trade union organiser with the National Union of Public Employees between 1976 and 1979. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Glasgow Springburn in the 1979 general election, Martin is associated with the right wing of the Labour Party, and a social conservative on matters such as abortion and homosexuality. In 1994, he was one of thirteen Labour MPs who voted against the reduction of the age of consent for homosexuals from 21 to 18 and he was a supporter of Roy Hattersley and Denis Healey, with whom he served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary from 1980 until 1983. He served as Chairman of the Scottish Grand Committee from 1987 to 1997, Martin sat on the Speakers Panel of Chairmen before being appointed as First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means in 1997. Martin was elected Speaker on 23 October 2000, succeeding Betty Boothroyd, in accordance with a long-standing convention, Martin resigned from the Labour Party. In the 2005 general election, he stood in the new constituency of Glasgow North East, the Scottish National Party caused controversy by standing against him both then and in the previous general election in 2001. Calton, who had just been re-elected, had terminal breast cancer, on 26 February 2006 it was announced that Martin had undergone angioplasty at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary for blocked coronary arteries and would be absent from his duties for some weeks. He returned to the Chair on 18 April, Martins initial appointment as Speaker caused controversy as his election broke a recent pattern in the House that the post of Speaker alternated between the two main political parties. As Martins immediate predecessor Betty Boothroyd had been a Labour MP, however, contrary to popular belief, there is no tradition of party alternation in the Speakership. Fourteen MPs put their names forward as potential successors to Betty Boothroyd as Speaker, in the end, Youngs candidacy was rejected by the House and Martin was elected as Speaker. Martin stated that the purpose of Prime Ministers Questions was for the House to question the Prime Minister on the actions of the government and this caused such dissent amongst MPs that Martin threatened to suspend the session. Cameron then re-worded the question so he asked about Tony Blairs future as Prime Minister rather than leader of the Labour Party, Conservative MPs threatened to walk out if a similar event occurred in the future. In 2007 Martin used public money to lawyers in challenging negative press stories
Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn
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The Right Honourable The Lord Martin of Springburn
PC
9.
Michael Howard
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Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, PC, QC is a British politician who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, following which he joined the Young Conservatives, in 1964 he was called to the Bar and became a Queens Counsel in 1982. He became a Member of Parliament in the 1983 General Election, representing the constituency of Folkestone and this quickly led to promotion and Howard became Minister for Local Government in 1987. Under John Major, he held cabinet positions including Secretary of State for Employment. In November 2003, following the Conservative Partys vote of no confidence in its leader Iain Duncan Smith, he was elected unopposed. In the 2005 General Election, the Conservatives gained 33 new seats in Westminster, including five from the Liberal Democrats, following the election, Howard resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party and was succeeded by David Cameron. Howard did not contest his seat of Folkestone and Hythe in the 2010 General Election, Howard was born Michael Hecht in Gorseinon, Swansea. He is the son of Bernat Hecht, who was born in Romania and his mother, Hilda, lived in Wales from the age of 6 months. Both of Howards parents were from Jewish families, when Howard was six, his parents became naturalised as British subjects, and his surname was also changed following the parents naturalisation with the new surname Howard. Howard passed his eleven-plus exam in 1952 and then attended Llanelli Boys Grammar School and he joined the Young Conservatives at age 15. He obtained eight O-levels and his subsequent A-levels earned him a place at Peterhouse at Cambridge University and he was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1962. After taking a 2,1 in the first part of the tripos, he switched to law. Howard was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1964 and specialised in employment, unlike his many Cambridge contemporaries, he continued his career at the Bar, becoming a practising Queens Counsel in 1982. The late 1960s saw Howards promotion within the Bow Group, where he became Chairman in April 1970, in the 1970s, Howard was a leading advocate of British membership of the Common Market and served on the board of the cross-party Britain in Europe group. Howard was named as co-respondent in the divorce case of 1960s model Sandra Paul. They have a son born in 1976 and a born in 1977. C. Which he has held since childhood, in June 1982, Howard was selected to contest the constituency of Folkestone and Hythe in Kent after the sitting Conservative MP, Sir Albert Costain, decided to retire. Howard won the seat at the 1983 general election and this junior post became very important, as he oversaw the Big Bang introduction of new technology in 1986
Michael Howard
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The Right Honourable The Lord Howard of Lympne
CH PC QC
Michael Howard
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Insignia of C.H.
10.
Caroline Spelman
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Dame Caroline Alice Spelman DBE is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who has served as the Member of Parliament for Meriden in the West Midlands since 1997. From May 2010 to September 2012 she was the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in David Camerons coalition cabinet and she was Sugar Beet commodity secretary for the National Farmers Union from 1981 to 1984. She was deputy director of the International Confederation of European Beet Growers in Paris from 1984–9 and she co-owns Spelman, Cormack & Associates, a lobbying firm for the food and biotechnology industry, with her husband. Before entering Parliament in 1997, she stood unsuccessfully in the Bassetlaw constituency in Nottinghamshire at the 1992 general election, in 2001, Iain Duncan Smith appointed Spelman Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, a post she maintained until Duncan Smiths departure as Conservative Party leader. In March 2004, Spelman re-entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Local and Devolved Government Affairs, under David Camerons leadership of the Conservative Party, in 2007 she was promoted further to become Conservative Party Chairman. In 2009 she was moved in another reshuffle to the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, since the reshuffle, Spelman has returned to the Commons backbenches. Spelman was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum, in 2009, during the expenses scandal it was reported that Spelman had received £40,000 for cleaning and bills for her constituency home, this was despite her husband claiming it was their main home. In 2008 she reportedly over-claimed hundreds of pounds towards her council tax, Spelman claims that her nanny also acted as her constituency secretary and was paid from the public taxpayers purse for this aspect of her further employment. Haynes confirms that occasionally she would answer phone calls and post documents, the allegation against Spelman came shortly after two Conservative MEPs, Giles Chichester and Den Dover, were forced to resign amid claims they misused their parliamentary allowances. However, Spelman was not urged to resign by party leader and she referred the matter pertaining to herself, her nanny and parliamentary funds to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Senior Conservative colleagues including former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis stated their support for Spelman, in March 2009, the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee ruled Mrs Spelman had misused her allowances to pay for nannying work in 1997 and 1998. On 24 February 2012, the High Court in London refused to continue a privacy injunction previously granted to prevent the publication of an item in the Daily Star Sunday involving her son. Judge Michael Tugendhat said that the injunction was not necessary or proportionate, on 2 March 2012, the Spelmans decided not to appeal against the decision, which permitted the publication of a story about her son. The Spelman family was required to pay the costs of the Daily Star Sunday. She married Mark Spelman, a partner at Accenture, on 25 April 1987 in south-east Kent. They have two sons and a daughter and her husband stood as a Conservative candidate in the 2009 European elections for the West Midlands region. The couple own a home, a London townhouse and a villa in Algarve, Portugal. She is a Patron of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, Spelman was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire as part of the Resignation Honours of the outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron
Caroline Spelman
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The Right Honourable Caroline Spelman
MP
11.
Alan Duncan
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Sir Alan James Carter Duncan, KCMG is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, between 2010 and 2014 he was the Minister of State for International Development. Duncan began his career in the oil industry with Royal Dutch Shell, after several minor positions in the government of John Major, he played a key role in William Hagues successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 1997. He was removed from the Cabinet and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael, a return to front-line politics was signalled when his appointment as a minister of state at the Foreign Office was announced on 17 July 2016. He was the first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament, having come out in 2002. Duncan was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, the son of J. G. Duncan OBE, an RAF wing commander, and his wife Anne Duncan, the family travelled much, following Alans father on NATO postings, including in Gibraltar, Italy, and Norway. Duncan was educated at two independent schools, Beechwood Park School in Markyate, and Merchant Taylors School in Northwood, whilst coming from a Liberal family, and running as a Liberal at a school mock election in 1970, Duncan joined the Young Conservatives in 1972. Duncan had two brothers, who also attended Beechwood Park School, Duncan then attended St Johns College at the University of Oxford, where he coxed the college first eight, and was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1979. Whilst there, he formed a friendship with Benazir Bhutto, and he gained a Kennedy Scholarship to study at Harvard University between 1981 and 1982. After graduating from Oxford, he worked as a trader of oil and refined products, first with Royal Dutch Shell, Duncan worked for Rich in London and Singapore. From 1988 to 1992, Duncan used the connections he had built up to be self-employed, acting as a consultant and adviser to governments on oil supplies. In 1989, Duncan set up the independent Harcourt Consultants, which advises on oil and he made over a £1 million after helping fill the need to supply oil to Pakistan after Kuwaits supplies had been disrupted in the Gulf War. Duncan was an member of the Battersea Conservative Association from 1979 until 1984. After Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990, he offered his home in Westminster as the headquarters of John Majors leadership campaign, Duncan first stood for Parliament as a Conservative candidate in the 1987 general election, unsuccessfully contesting the safe Labour seat of Barnsley West and Penistone. For the 1992 general election he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Rutland and Melton, a safe Conservative seat, which he retained with a 59% share of the votes cast. In the Labour landslide of 1997, his proportion of the vote was reduced to 46% but has increased to 48% in 2001, 51% in 2005. From 1993 to 1995, Duncan was a member of the Social Security Select Committee and his first governmental position was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Health, a position he obtained in December 1993. He resigned from the position within a month after it emerged that he had used the programme to make profits on property deals
Alan Duncan
–
The Right Honourable Sir Alan Duncan
KCMG MP
Alan Duncan
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Merchant Taylors' School
Alan Duncan
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Duncan in 2010
Alan Duncan
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Star and badge of a
KCMG
12.
Iain Duncan Smith
–
George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British Conservative Party politician. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016, he was previously the Leader of the Conservative Party, Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh and served in the Scots Guards from 1975 to 1981, seeing tours in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia. Duncan Smith was the first Catholic to serve as a Conservative Leader, in 2010 The Tablet named him one of Britain’s most influential Catholics. Many Conservative MPs came to consider him incapable of winning an election when he was Conservative Party Leader, in 2003 his MPs passed a vote of no confidence in his leadership, he immediately resigned, and was succeeded by Michael Howard. Returning to the backbenches, he founded the centre-right Centre for Social Justice, a think tank independent of the Conservative Party, on 12 May 2010 the new Prime Minister, David Cameron, appointed Duncan Smith to serve in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He resigned from the Cabinet on 18 March 2016, in opposition to Chancellor George Osbornes proposed cuts to disability benefits, Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1954. He is the son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a decorated Royal Air Force flying ace of World War II, and Pamela Summers, a ballerina, who were married in 1946. He is a descendant of Adam Duncan, the admiral who defeated the Dutch Navy at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797, Duncan Smith was educated at what is now St. In 1975 he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards, according to the BBC, Duncan Smiths biography on the Conservative Party website and his entry in Whos Who originally stated that he had studied at the University of Perugia in Italy. A BBC investigation in 2002 found this statement to be untrue, in response to the BBC story, Duncan Smiths office stated that he had in fact attended the Università per Stranieri, a different institution in Perugia, for a year. He did not complete his course of study, sit exams, dunchurch was the former staff college for GEC Marconi, for whom Duncan Smith worked in the 1980s. He was commissioned into the Scots Guards as a lieutenant on 28 June 1975. He was promoted to lieutenant on 28 June 1977, and retired from the military on 2 April 1981, at the 1987 general election Duncan Smith contested the constituency of Bradford West, where the incumbent Labour Party MP Max Madden retained his seat. At the 1992 general election he stood in the London constituency of Chingford, following the retirement of Conservative MP, a safe seat, he became a member of the House of Commons with a majority of nearly 15,000. A committed Eurosceptic, Duncan Smith became a constant thorn in the side of Prime Minister John Majors government of 1992 to 1997, Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches until 1997, when the new Conservative leader William Hague brought him into the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Social Security Secretary. At the 1997 general election, boundary changes saw his constituency renamed Chingford and Woodford Green and his majority of 14,938 was reduced to 5,714. Duncan Smith realised the dangers that he and neighbouring Conservative MPs faced, so redoubled his efforts, I held on but everywhere around me went. In 1999, Duncan Smith replaced John Maples as Shadow Defence Secretary, William Hague resigned after the Labour Party returned to government in the 2001 general election with another large parliamentary majority
Iain Duncan Smith
–
The Right Honourable Iain Duncan Smith
MP
Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith
–
Iain Duncan Smith at Nightingale House, London, in March 2010 in his role as Chairman of the Centre for Social Justice
Iain Duncan Smith
–
Politics
13.
Oliver Letwin
–
Sir Oliver Letwin is a British Conservative politician. He has served as Member of Parliament for West Dorset since 1997 and he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2014 to 2016. Following the 2015 general election, Letwin was given responsibility for the Cabinet Office. He had previously been Minister of State for Government Policy from 2010 and 2015 and he is also chairman of the Conservative Research Department and chaired the Conservative Partys Policy Review from 2005 to 2010. He was educated at the Hall School, Hampstead, then at Eton, while a student at Cambridge, Letwin was a member of the Cambridge University Liberal Club. When asked about his membership of the Liberal club he explained, but I am sorry to have to tell you that this was because I was interested in the thoughts of Liberals and Fabians rather than because I was ever a Liberal Democrat or a Fabian. From 1980 to 1981, Letwin was a fellow of Princeton University, then a research fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. His thesis, Emotion and Emotions, earned a PhD awarded by the Cambridge Philosophy Faculty in 1982, from 1983 to 1986, he was a member of Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers Policy Unit. e. The controversial Community Charge or Poll tax, having trialled it there first, Letwin later apologised, saying that parts of the memo had been both badly worded and wrong. This is regarded as providing a justification for NHS reforms carried out by subsequent governments, particularly the Health. Letwin unsuccessfully stood against Diane Abbott at the 1987 election for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and against Glenda Jackson for the Hampstead and Highgate seat in the 1992 election. He went on to win the historically safe Conservative seat of West Dorset at the 1997 general election, as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party William Hague appointed Letwin as a member of his Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in September 2000. He supported Michael Portillo and Michael Howard in their tenures as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had previously been an official Opposition spokesman on Constitutional Affairs, Scotland and Wales from 1998, during the campaign for the 2001 general election, Letwin expressed an aspiration to curtail future public spending by £20 billion per annum relative to the plans of the Labour government. When this proposal came under attack as regressive, Letwin found few of his colleagues to defend it and he famously went into hiding during the 2001 election, and for some time after the election. At this election, his majority in his West Dorset constituency was cut to 1,414 votes, in September 2001 he was appointed Shadow Home Secretary by the new Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith. He was also credited with forcing the then Home Secretary to withdraw his proposal in 2001 to introduce an offence of incitement to religious hatred. He successfully argued that such an offence would be impossible to define and he also argued that Muslims would feel persecuted by such a law
Oliver Letwin
–
The Right Honourable Oliver Letwin
FRSA MP
Oliver Letwin
–
Professor William Letwin
Oliver Letwin
–
Eton College, Berkshire
Oliver Letwin
–
Dr Oliver Letwin PC MP
14.
Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Buckingham /ˈbʌkɪŋm̩/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by John Bercow, who later became Speaker of the House of Commons. 1885–1918, The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Sessional Divisions of Ashendon, Buckingham, Newport, and Stony Stratford, and part of the Sessional Division of Winslow. 1950–1974, The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Linslade, Newport Pagnell, and Wolverton, and the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Wing, and Winslow. 1974–1983, The Municipal Borough of Buckingham, the Urban Districts of Bletchley, Newport Pagnell, and Wolverton, and the Rural Districts of Buckingham, Newport Pagnell, Wing, and Winslow. The constituency takes up a part of central Buckinghamshire, covering much of the Aylesbury Vale district including the town of Buckingham. To the north, the part of ceremonial Buckinghamshire forms two Borough of Milton Keynes constituencies. The seat has sent MPs since 1542 — its standard double representation was halved in 1868, in the twentieth century, the constituency was held by the Conservative Party for most of the time. However, a Labour Party MP served Buckingham from 1945 until 1951, Aidan Crawley, before the periodic review effected in 1983, the new town of Milton Keynes, including its older parts such as Bletchley and Fenny Stratford was in the constituency. The review followed the previous national review in 1974 and recognised the large increase in electorate in the seat, the sitting Buckingham MP William Benyon stood for the then-created Milton Keynes constituency where he was elected. The residual seat was won in 1983 by Conservative George Walden, Walden retired in 1997, and John Bercow won the following general elections in 2001,2005,2010 and 2015. Constituency created 1 In both 2015 and 2010, John Bercow stood as The Speaker seeking re-election, list of Parliamentary constituencies in Buckinghamshire Notes References Sources Iain Dale, ed. The Times House of Commons 1929,1931,1935, the Times House of Commons 1945. The Times House of Commons 1950, the Times House of Commons 1955. Nomis Constituency Profile for Buckingham — presenting data from the ONS annual population survey and other official statistics
Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Sir Harry Verney
Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Boundary of Buckingham in
Buckinghamshire.
Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Frederick Verney
15.
University of Essex
–
The University of Essex is a public research university in Colchester, Essex, England. It was established in 1963 and received its Royal Charter in 1965, the universitys largest campus is located within Wivenhoe Park in the English county of Essex, less than a mile from the town of Wivenhoe and two miles from the town of Colchester. Apart from the Wivenhoe Park campus, there is a rapidly developing campus in Southend-on-Sea, the universitys motto, Thought the harder, heart the keener, is adapted from the Anglo-Saxon poem The Battle of Maldon. The university enjoys collaborative partnerships with a number of institutions across the eastern region and these are University Campus Suffolk, Colchester Institute, Kaplan Open Learning, South Essex College and Writtle College. The university exhibits an international character with 132 countries represented in its student body, the Research Excellence Framework in 2014 ranked Essex in the top 20 universities in the UK for the quality of its research and the top 5 for social science. The QS statistics ranked Essex the 5th most international university in the UK for staff, in July 1959, Essex County Council accepted a proposal from Alderman Leatherland that a university be established in the county. In July 1962, Albert Sloman, Gilmour Professor of Spanish and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Liverpool, was appointed as Vice-Chancellor, hon. R. A. Butler, was invited to be Chancellor, with Anthony Rowland-Jones appointed as Registrar. With its first staff appointed, a development plan for the university was published, within six months the Appeal Fund had exceeded its £1million target with The Queen Mother and Sir Winston Churchill among contributors, while work began on clearing the site for building work. Two months later the universitys Armorial Bearings were published, with the motto Thought the harder, in October 1964, the first 122 students arrived with 28 teaching staff in three schools, Comparative Studies, Physical Sciences and Social Studies. Work started on the first residential tower, Rayleigh, in December with The Queen approving the grant of Charter to take effect from 11 January 1965. 1965 brought 399 students enrolling for the start of the new year, the number of academic staff more than doubled to 61. The Physics building opened and the first six floors of Rayleigh tower were ready for occupation, the first female lecturer was appointed, Dorothy E. Smith in the Department of Sociology. In December, University Court met for the first time with around 500 members, six months later, work started on the Lecture Theatre Building, plus the Topping out of Keynes tower. In October 1966, the Hexagon Restaurant and General Store opened, the University of Essex was at the forefront of 1960s student unrest. At a time of worldwide protest against the Vietnam War, the student movement was taking off all over the world, in March 1968, a demonstration against a visit to the University by Enoch Powell received national publicity. Seven students were summoned to disciplinary hearings but student sit-ins prevented these hearings taking place, on Tuesday,7 May 1968, Dr Thomas Inch from Porton Down came to give a lecture at the university. In a carefully planned demonstration, an indictment was read out as Inch attempted to speak, University authorities called in police with dogs, probably for the first time in an English university. Students outnumbered police and managed to prevent arrests, on Friday,10 May, three students, Pete Archard, Raphael Halberstadt and David Triesman were suspended and ordered off the campus
University of Essex
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Square 5 seen from outside the library
University of Essex
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University of Essex
University of Essex
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One of the lakes
University of Essex
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The south student residence towers, Bertrand Russell (left) and Eddington (right)
16.
Shami Chakrabarti
–
Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, CBE, commonly known as Shami Chakrabarti, is a British Labour Party politician and member of the House of Lords. She is also a barrister, and was the director of Liberty, Chakrabarti was born in Harrow, London, and studied Law at the London School of Economics. After graduating, she was called to the Bar and then worked as a legal counsel for the Home Office. When she was the director of Liberty, she campaigned against excessive anti-terror legislation, in this role she frequently contributed to BBC Radio 4 and various newspapers, and was described in The Times as probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years. In September 2014, she was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Essex, Chakrabarti was one of the panel members of the Leveson Inquiry into press standards throughout 2011 and 2012. In April 2016 she was invited by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to chair an inquiry into alleged anti-semitism in the Labour Party, in August 2016 she was nominated by Corbyn to receive a life peerage in the Prime Ministers Resignation Honours. Chakrabarti was born to Bengali parents in the suburb of Kenton in the London Borough of Harrow and her father, a bookkeeper, has been cited by Chakrabarti as an influence on her gaining an interest in civil liberties. She attended Bentley Wood High School, a comprehensive school. She was a member of the SDP, both her parents were educated in Catholic schools in Calcutta, while she herself attended a Baptist Sunday school as a child. In 2007 she broadcast a Lent talk for BBC Radio 4, after graduating with a Bachelor of Laws, Chakrabarti was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1994. In 1996, she started working as a barrister for the Home Office, on 10 September 2001, she joined the human rights organisation Liberty. After working as counsel, Chakrabarti was appointed director of Liberty in 2003. The organisation is a prominent opponent of recent counter-terrorism legislation, Chakrabarti is a frequently invited contributor to BBC Radio 4 and various newspapers on the topic of human rights and civil liberties. The Observer wrote that she puts in seemingly endless appearances on Question Time and she was also described by David Aaronovitch in The Times as probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years. In December 2005, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme ran a poll of listeners to establish who runs Britain, after many hours of debate, Today placed Chakrabarti on the shortlist of ten people who may run Britain. She was shortlisted in the Channel 4 Political Awards 2006 for the Most Inspiring Political Figure award and it was voted for by the public and she came second to Jamie Oliver, above Tony Blair, David Cameron, George Galloway and Bob Geldof. Chakrabarti left Liberty on 31 March 2016, martha Spurrier was announced as her successor to the post of director. Davis, a Conservative MP, was said by Burnham to have had late-night, Chakrabarti received an apology from Burnham for his innuendo and attempted character assassination
Shami Chakrabarti
–
At
Humber Mouth on 28 June 2007
17.
Edgware
–
Edgware is a district of north London, in the London Borough of Barnet. Edgware is centred 10 miles north of Charing Cross and has its own commercial centre, Edgware has a generally suburban character, typical of the rural-urban fringe. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, the community benefits from some elevated woodland on a high ridge marking the Hertfordshire border of gravel and sand. Edgware is identified in the London Plan as one of the capitals 35 major centres, in 2011, Edgware had a population of 76,056. Edgware is principally a shopping and residential area and one of the termini of the Northern line. Edgware succeeds to the identity of the ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, Edgware is a Saxon name meaning Ecgis weir. Ecgi was a Saxon and the weir relates to a pond where Ecgis people caught fish, Edgware parish formed part of Hendon Rural District from 1894. It was abolished in 1931 and formed part of the Municipal Borough of Hendon until 1965, the Romans made pottery at Brockley Hill, thought by some to be the site of Sulloniacis. Canons Park, to the north-west, was developed as an estate by James Brydges, Edgware was identified in 2008 as a major centre for preferred development in the London Plan. Until the 20th century there were no major rises in the population of Edgware, in 1425–26 the manor of Edgware had three free and 29 customary tenants in the parish, and in 1525–26 the numbers were two or three free and 26 customary tenants. In 1547 there were 120 communicants in the parish, in 1597 there were between 60 and 70 houses in the parish, and 44 more in the village of Edgware but on the west side of Watling Street and therefore in the parish of Little Stanmore. In 1599 there were six free and 25 customary tenants of the manor within Edgware, in 1642 in the Civil War the protestation oath of 1641 was taken by 103 adult males. In 1664 there were 73 houses in the parish, but the tax of 1672 gives only 66. There were said to be 69 houses in the village in 1766 and 76 houses in 1792, at the first census in 1801 the population was 412. Ten years later the losses had been more than made good, by 1921 the population had grown to 1,516, but the great infilling of the southern part of Edgware after 1924 caused the most spectacular increase. In 1931 the population was 5,352, this had increased to 17,513 by 1951, as well as Christian and subsequent settling of other religious groups, Edgwares development coincided with that of its Jewish community, currently forming the largest single religious group. In the 2001 Census, 36% of Edgware residents give their religion as Jewish, 28% Christian, 9% Hindu, the Jewish community in Edgware has constructed its own Eruv. According to the 2011 census, Edgware ward of Barnet was 60% white, 13% was Indian and 7% Black African
Edgware
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Aerial view of Edgware from Station Road; facing North towards
Broadfields and
Elstree.
Edgware
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Hanukkah menorah outside
Edgware tube station, 2006
Edgware
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Station Road. Here, all buses climb up the hill towards the station and the shops. St Margaret of Antioch church can be seen in the background.
Edgware
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Edgware bus station.
18.
Middlesex
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Middlesex is a historic county in south-east England. It is now entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and its area is now also mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in other neighbouring ceremonial counties. It was established in the Anglo-Saxon system from the territory of the Middle Saxons, the largely low-lying county, dominated by clay in its north and alluvium on gravel in its south, was the second smallest county by area in 1831. The City of London was a county in its own right from the 12th century and was able to exert control over Middlesex. Westminster Abbey dominated most of the financial, judicial and ecclesiastical aspects of the county. As London grew into Middlesex, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to expand the city boundaries into the county, in the 18th and 19th centuries the population density was especially high in the southeast of the county, including the East End and West End of London. From 1855 the southeast was administered, with sections of Kent and Surrey, the City of London, and Middlesex, became separate counties for other purposes and Middlesex regained the right to appoint its own sheriff, lost in 1199. In the interwar years suburban London expanded further, with improvement and expansion of public transport, after the Second World War, the population of the County of London and inner Middlesex was in steady decline, with high population growth continuing in the outer parts. Since 1965 various areas called Middlesex have been used for cricket, Middlesex was the former postal county of 25 post towns. The name means territory of the middle Saxons and refers to the origin of its inhabitants. The word is formed from the Anglo-Saxon, i. e. Old English, middel, in an 8th-century charter the region is recorded as Middleseaxon and in 704 it is recorded as Middleseaxan. The Saxons derived their name from seax, a kind of knife for which they were known, the seax has a lasting symbolic impact in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, both of which feature three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem. Their names, along with those of Sussex and Wessex, contain a remnant of the word Saxon, there were settlements in the area of Middlesex that can be traced back thousands of years before the creation of a county. Middlesex was formerly part of the Kingdom of Essex It was recorded in the Domesday Book as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow, Ossulstone and Spelthorne. The City of London has been self-governing since the century and became a county in its own right. Middlesex also included Westminster, which also had a degree of autonomy. Of the six hundreds, Ossulstone contained the districts closest to the City of London, during the 17th century it was divided into four divisions, which, along with the Liberty of Westminster, largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named Finsbury, Holborn, Kensington and Tower, the county had parliamentary representation from the 13th century
Middlesex
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The County of Middlesex
Middlesex
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Flag
Middlesex
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Map of Middlesex, 1824. Note: west is at the top.
Middlesex
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Map in 1882 shows complete urbanisation of the East End
19.
Conservative Party (UK)
–
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
Conservative Party (UK)
–
Sir Robert Peel, twice
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and founder of the Conservative Party, as well as the 'most considered' first Prime Minister of the UK.
Conservative Party (UK)
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Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
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Sir Winston Churchill, twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Conservative Party (UK)
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1929 poster attacking the
Labour Party
20.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
Alma mater
–
The Alma Mater statue by
Mario Korbel, at the entrance of the
University of Havana in
Cuba.
Alma mater
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John Legate's Alma Mater for Cambridge in 1600
Alma mater
–
Alma Mater (1929, Lorado Taft),
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
21.
Labour Party (UK)
–
The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
Labour Party (UK)
–
Keir Hardie, one of the Labour Party's founders and its first leader
Labour Party (UK)
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Labour Party Plaque from Caroone House, 14 Farringdon Street
Labour Party (UK)
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Ramsay MacDonald: First Labour Prime Minister, 1924 and 1929–31
Labour Party (UK)
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Aneurin Bevan speaking in October 1952
22.
United Kingdom general election, 1997
–
The United Kingdom general election of 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition and won the election with a landslide victory, winning 418 seats. Blair, as a result, became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, under Blairs leadership, the Labour Party had adopted a more centrist policy platform under the name New Labour. This was seen as moving away from the traditionally more left-wing stance of the Labour Party, the Labour campaign was ultimately a success and the party returned an unprecedented 418 MPs and began the first of three consecutive terms for Labour in government. However,1997 remains the last election in which Labour had a net gain of seats, a record number of women were elected to parliament,120, of whom 101 were Labour MPs. This was in thanks to Labours policy of using all-women shortlists. The Conservative Party was led by incumbent Prime Minister John Major and ran their campaign emphasising falling unemployment, however, future Prime Minister Theresa May was elected to the safe Conservative seat at Maidenhead, and future Speaker John Bercow in the seat at Buckingham. The Scottish National Party returned 6 MPs, double their total in 1992, as with all general elections since the early 1950s, the results were broadcast live on the BBC, the presenters were David Dimbleby, Peter Snow and Jeremy Paxman. Labour had elected John Smith as its party leader in 1992, Blair brought the party closer to the political centre and abolished the partys Clause IV in their constitution, which had committed them to mass nationalisation of industry. Labour also reversed its policy on nuclear disarmament and the events of Black Wednesday allowed Labour to promise greater economic management under the Chancellorship of Gordon Brown. Fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders by halving the time from arrest to sentencing, cut NHS waiting lists by treating an extra 100,000 patients as a first step by releasing £100 million saved from NHS red tape. Get 250,000 under-25-year-olds off benefit and into work by using money from a levy on the privatised utilities. No rise in tax rates, cut VAT on heating to 5 per cent. Disputes within the Conservative government over European Union issues, and a variety of sleaze allegations had affected the governments popularity. The previous Parliament first sat on 29 April 1992, therefore, the latest date the election could have been held on was 22 May 1997. British elections have been held on Thursdays by convention since the 1930s, Prime Minister John Major called the election on Monday 17 March 1997, ensuring the formal campaign would be unusually long, at six weeks. The election was scheduled for 1 May, to coincide with the elections on the same day. This set a precedent, as the three subsequent general elections have also held alongside the May local elections
United Kingdom general election, 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
–
All 659 seats to the
House of Commons 330 seats needed for a majority
United Kingdom general election, 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
23.
United Kingdom general election, 2015
–
The United Kingdom general election of 2015 on 7 May 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons and it was the first general election at the end of a fixed-term Parliament. Local elections took place in most of England on the same day, polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be too close to call and would result in a second hung parliament similar to the 2010 election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote as they won an outright majority. Having governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, the Conservatives won 330 seats and 36. 9% of the vote, the British Polling Council began an inquiry into the substantial variance between opinion polls and the actual result. The Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, saw an increase in its vote share to 30. 4%. This was its lowest seat tally since the 1987 election, senior Labour shadow cabinet members, notably Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander, and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, were defeated. The UK Independence Party came third in terms of votes with 12. 6%, the Green Party won its highest-ever share of the vote with 3. 8%, and held Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority, though did not win any additional seats. Labours Miliband and Murphy resigned, as did Clegg, Farage claimed that his resignation was rejected by his party, and he remained in post. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after an absence, while the Alliance Party lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share. That renegotiation was followed by an in-out referendum a year later in June 2016, as a result, it is likely that this was the last general election to be held in the UK during its membership of the EU. There were local elections on the day in most of England. No other elections were scheduled to take place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, all British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 on the date of the election were permitted to vote. In general elections, voting takes place in all constituencies of the United Kingdom to elect members of parliament to seats in the House of Commons. Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the first-past-the-post system, if one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government. If the election results in no party having a majority. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government, the next boundary review is now set to take place in 2018, thus the 2015 general election was contested using the same constituencies and boundaries as in 2010. Of the 650 constituencies,533 are in England,59 in Scotland,40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland, in addition, the 2011 Act mandated a referendum in 2011 on changing from the current first-past-the-post system to an alternative vote system for elections to the Commons
United Kingdom general election, 2015
–
All
650 seats in the
House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
United Kingdom general election, 2015
United Kingdom general election, 2015
United Kingdom general election, 2015
24.
Second World War
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
Second World War
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
Second World War
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
Second World War
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Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
Second World War
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Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
25.
University of Bedfordshire
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The University of Bedfordshire is a public university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university was created in August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council by merging the University of Luton and it has 14,400 students, including approximately 4,500 international students. The university entered the Research Assessment Exercise in 2008 and achieved a GPA of 2.087 with 34. 7% world-leading or internationally excellent, the top units of assessment were in Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Social Work Social Policy and Administration and English Language and Literature. In 2012 it achieved FairTrade status, the current Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire is John Bercow, the current Speaker of the House of Commons. The University of Luton had its roots in the Luton Modern School, which was established in 1908 and this became Luton College of Higher Education with the merger of Luton College of Technology and Putteridge Bury College of Education in 1976. It obtained university status in 1993, the university was created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University in August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council. The universitys two campuses are in Luton and Bedford. The university also has a site at Putteridge Bury which is home to its Knowledge Hub, the campus is situated in approximately 30 acres of landscaped gardens. The current building was completed in 1911 and was designed by architects Sir Ernest George and Alfred Yeats in the style of Chequers, having had various redesigns, the campus is home to the universitys postgraduate Business School as well as the universitys Conference Centre. A smaller fourth campus, the University Campus Milton Keynes, became part of the university in 2012, the university’s £34m Campus Centre opened in October 2010. Designed for social activity as well as teaching the Campus Centre incorporates learning zones, there are also several places to eat and drink. The Luton Learning Resource Centre has over 200,000 books, there is also an extensive online library of resources. Luton campus is home to the schools of study, Business, Media, Art and Design, Science, Computing, Law, Psychology. Built in 1911, Putteridge Bury is a mansion set in 30 acres of landscaped gardens and parkland. It is home to the Bedfordshire Business School postgraduate programmes and the universitys Conference Centre, the Bedford campus on Polhill Avenue is about 20 minutes walk from Bedford town centre. The university provides a bus service running between the town centre and the campus. Liberty Park, the recently completed £20m on-campus student accommodation, offers 500 en-suite study bedrooms, the Polhill Library was designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects as a gateway to the campus. The building was completed in 2001 and provides approximately 360 individual study spaces, teaching space, staff work areas, butterfield is home to a purpose-designed building for Health, Nursing and Midwifery students, and £1m has been invested to offer students appropriate teaching and learning resources
University of Bedfordshire
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University of Bedfordshire – Luton Campus
University of Bedfordshire
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University of Bedfordshire – Bedford Campus Centre
University of Bedfordshire
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Polhill Library on the Bedford campus
University of Bedfordshire
–
University of Bedfordshire, Luton campus
26.
British Jews
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British Jews are British people of who are ethnically and/or religiously Jewish. The UK is home to the second largest Jewish population in Europe, the number of identifying Jews in England and Wales has risen slightly over the past decade, indicating a stability which contrasts with the usual impression of relentless diaspora decline. The growth is due to the rapid growth of the Charedi community. The Lost Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles recounts the journey of the Apostle Paul to Britain during the 1st Century AD, two hundred years later the Jews were no longer welcome. When,15 years later, Edward found that many of these provisions were ignored and they emigrated to countries such as Poland which protected them by law. A small English community persisted in hiding despite the expulsion, Jews were not banned from Scotland, which until 1707 was an independent kingdom. Gradually Jews eased back into England, first visiting for trade, then staying longer periods, benjamin Disraeli, of Jewish birth although he joined the Church of England, served in government for three decades, twice as prime minister. In 2006, the Jewish community celebrated the 350th anniversary of the resettlement in England, according to the 2011 census,263,346 people answered “Jewish” to the voluntary question on religion, compared with 259,927 in the previous count of 2001. However, this figure is considered an undercount. By comparison, the Jewish Virtual Library estimated a Jewish population of 291,000 in 2012, the 2001 Census included a religion question for the first time in its history,266,740 people listed their religion as Jewish. However, the subject of who is a Jew is complex, the religion question appeared in the 2011 Census, but there was still no explicit option for Jewish in the ethnic-group question. The Board of Deputies had encouraged all Jews to indicate they were Jewish, from 1990 to 2006, the Jewish population showed a decrease from 340,000 Jews to 270,000. According to the 1996 Jewish Policy Review, nearly one in two are marrying people who do not share their faith, from 2005 to 2008, the Jewish population increased from 275,000 to 280,000, attributed largely to the high birth rates of Haredi Jews. Research by the University of Manchester in 2007 showed that 75 percent of British Jewish births were to the Haredi community, ultra-Orthodox women have an average of 6.9 children, and secular Jewish women 1.65. About two-thirds of the UKs Jews live in Greater London or contiguous parts of South Hertfordshire, substantial communities outside the London area include Greater Manchester, home to some 30,000 Jews, and Leeds, although the Leeds Jewish community became smaller in the late 20th century. Other substantial communities include Gateshead, Glasgow and Liverpool, as well as former industrial cities. Barnet and Hertsmere councils in the London borders polled as the first and second most Jewish local authorities in England, with Jews composing one in five, the British Jewish population has a substantially older profile than that of the general population. In England and Wales, the age of male Jews is 41.2, while the figure for all males is 36.1, Jewish females have a median age of 44.3
British Jews
–
David Ricardo •
Benjamin Disraeli •
Nathan Rothschild Herbert Samuel •
Karl Popper Alicia Markova •
Yehudi Menuhin •
David Bohm Lucian Freud •
Peter Sellers •
Amy Winehouse
British Jews
27.
Woodside Park
–
Woodside Park is a suburban residential area in London. It is located in the London Borough of Barnet, in postal district N12, the area to the east of the tube station consists predominantly of large Victorian and Edwardian houses, many of which have been converted into flats. It also contains Woodside Park Synagogue and a Jewish school and it includes the Woodside Park Club. The eastern boundary of the Garden Suburb is the Dollis Brook, between the Garden Suburb and the Northern line is an area originally of Victorian housing. Many of the houses, including the residence of Spike Milligan, have been replaced by modern housing or flats. The estate where Emma Bunton grew up is also located in the area, a house of special interest is Woodside Grange. This castellated folly was built by Dr. James Turle as a home and it was later owned by Sir Arthur Douglas Derry the owner of Derry and Toms Store. In 1928 it was purchased as the home of Finchley Catholic Grammar School, on the morning of September 152008 the key Lehman Brothers payment hub in Europe was shut down from a house in Woodside Park in anticipation of insolvency procedures. Nearest tube station, Woodside Park tube station
Woodside Park
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Spike Milligan plaque
28.
Comprehensive school
–
A comprehensive school is a secondary school or middle school that is a state school and does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria. The term is used in relation to England and Wales. About 90% of British secondary school pupils now attend comprehensive schools and they correspond broadly to the public high school in the United States and Canada and to the German Gesamtschule. Comprehensive schools are primarily about providing an entitlement curriculum to all children, a consequence of that is a wider ranging curriculum, including practical subjects such as design and technology and vocational learning, which were less common or non-existent in grammar schools. In addition, government initiatives such as the City Technology Colleges, a problem with this is whether the quotas should be taken from a normal distribution or from the specific distribution of attainment in the immediate catchment area. In the selective system, which survives in several parts of the United Kingdom, admission is dependent on selection criteria. Although comprehensive schools were introduced to England and Wales in 1965, in principle, comprehensive schools were conceived as neighbourhood schools for all students in a specified catchment area. Finland has used comprehensive schools after 5th grade since the 1970s, since the 1970s, everyone has been required to complete the same nine grades of peruskoulu, from the ages of 7 to 16. This change was modeled on the British comprehensive school, which goes from the ages of 11 to 16, from the ages of 16 to 19, students go either to vocational school or high school. The division of the peruskoulu into a school and upper school has been discontinued. Germany has a school known as the Gesamtschule. While some German schools such as the Gymnasium and the Realschule have rather strict entrance requirements and they offer college preparatory classes for the students who are doing well, general education classes for average students, and remedial courses for those who arent doing that well. In most cases students attending a Gesamtschule may graduate with the Hauptschulabschluss, the percentage of students attending a Gesamtschule varies by Bundesland. In the State of Brandenburg more than 50% of all students attended a Gesamtschule in 2007, the Mittelschule is a school in some States of Germany that offers regular classes and remedial classes but no college preparatory classes. In some States of Germany, the Hauptschule does not exist, students may be awarded the Hauptschulabschluss or the Mittlere Reife but not the Abitur. There is some controversy about comprehensive schools, Gesamtschule senior students of average mathematical ability found themselves in the upper half of their class and had an average grade of Three Plus. When a central Abitur examination was established in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the comprehensives do not help students achieve I am sick and tired of the comprehensive schools blaming their problems on the social class origins of their students
Comprehensive school
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The comprehensive school of Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim
Comprehensive school
–
Integrierte Gesamtschule Ludwigshafen-Gartenstadt
29.
North Finchley
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North Finchley is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Barnet, situated 7 miles north-west of Charing Cross. North Finchley is centred on Tally Ho Corner, the junction of the roads to East Finchley, Church End, Friern Barnet, Church End is often known as Finchley Central, owing to the name of the tube station located there. It is primarily a residential and shopping area, with several supermarkets, the area has mainly 19th-century housing, ranging from quaint Victorian cottages to substantially larger Victorian double-fronted houses. There is also a dominant Edwardian style toward Woodside Park and Nether Street, there are some mansion-style properties on Friern Barnet Lane, and a development of luxury flats at Tally Ho Corner, above the artsdepot, with views over Mill Hill and Hertfordshire. There are few local authority estates in the area, the largest one, the bus station was reopened in March 2007 after safety improvements had been implemented. The bus station is served by routes 13 and 460, and by through routes 221 and 125 to Edgware and Finchley Central, the Cricketers pub used to stand adjacent to the old bus station. On 26 July 1994 a bomb exploded outside Balfour House, a prominent building on North Finchley High Street, earlier on the same day, a bomb had exploded outside the Israeli embassy. Two Lebanese Palestinians, Samar Alami and Jawad Botmeh, were convicted of carrying out the Finchley bombing. Tally Ho Bombers Lose Court Appeal, Guardian. co. uk, 2001-11-01 An urban district of Finchley, in 1932 the Municipal Borough of Finchley was created, but in 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its area became part of the London Borough of Barnet. Margaret Thatcher was elected as MP for Finchley in 1959, she served until her retirement from the House of Commons in 1992, list of people from Barnet Media related to North Finchley at Wikimedia Commons
North Finchley
–
High rise at Tally Ho Corner
North Finchley
–
Tally Ho Corner
30.
Anthony King (professor)
–
Anthony Stephen King FBA was a Canadian-British professor of government, psephologist and commentator. He taught at the Department of Government at the University of Essex for many years, King was born in Canada on 17 November 1934, the son of Marjorie and Harold King. He gained a B. A. in History and Economics at Queens University and he initially taught at Magdalen College, Oxford, before transferring to Essex, from which he never officially retired. From 1969, he was Professor of Government at Essex, where he led a Wednesday brainstorming class of selected bright students from the Department of Government. King taught the course GV100 – Introduction to Politics and he also taught at Princeton and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in the United States. He regularly appeared on election results programming and analysed their implications, for each UK General Election from 1983 to 2005, he was BBC televisions analyst on their election night programming. On a monthly basis, he analysed political opinion polls on voting intentions for The Daily Telegraph and he also wrote many books on politics and was co-editor of the Britain at the Polls series of essays and, in 2008, The British Constitution. He was also co-author with Ivor Crewe of the semi-official SDP, The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party and The Blunders of our Governments. He edited The New American Political System, New Labour Triumphs, Britain at the Polls 1997, Britain at the Polls 2001, King was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the Royal Commission on the Reform of the House of Lords. In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy and he also served as an associate at the Institute for Government, a non-partisan charity that aims to improve the effectiveness of central Government in the UK. During the latter part of his life, his focused on, the changing British constitution, the British prime ministership, American politics and government. King was also a member of the Academia Europaea, an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His first wife Vera Korte, whom he married in 1965 and he married his second wife Jan Reece in 1980. King died on 12 January 2017 at the age of 82, British Members of Parliament, A Self-portrait The View from Europe in Charles O. Jones, ed
Anthony King (professor)
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Anthony King giving a talk on 'The Blunders of our Governments' for the Essex Book Festival, 2014
31.
Conservative Monday Club
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The Conservative Monday Club is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. By 1971, the club had 35 MPs, six of them ministers, in 1982, the constitution was re-written, with more emphasis on support for the Conservative Party, but subsequent in-fighting over the club’s ‘hard right’ agenda led to many resignations. In 2001, the Conservatives formally severed relations with the club, the club was founded on 1 January 1961, by four young Conservative Party members, Paul Bristol, Ian Greig, Cedric Gunnery, and Anthony Maclaren. The club was formed to force local party associations to discuss and it disliked what it regarded as the expediency, cynicism and materialism which motivated Harold Macmillans government. The club’s published aims stated that it “seeks to evolve a dynamic application of traditional Tory principles, the club stated that Macmillan had turned the Party Left, and its first pamphlet opposed these policies, as indicative of the Conservative Partys move towards liberalism. The club is notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, by the end of 1963 there were eleven Members of Parliament in the Club, which then had an overall membership of about 300. That year Alan Clark joined the club and was chairman of its Wiltshire branch. Under its chairman from 1964 to 1969, Paul Williams, who until 1964 had been MP for Sunderland South, some argued that the club had a disproportionate influence within Conservative circles, especially after six of its members who were MPs joined the Cabinet in 1970. Harold Wilson, twice Labour Prime Minister, described the club as the guardian of the Tory conscience, oxford political scholar Roger Griffin referred to the club as practising an anti-socialist and elitist form of conservatism. The clubs chairman in June 1981, David Storey, described it as an anchor to a ship, sam Swerling, and later, Eleanor Dodd. Harvey Ward had an article on Zimbabwe Today, other attacks were made upon then-Greater London Council leader Ken Livingstone inviting Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to visit London in 1982. At the beginning of January 1991, the Monday Club News announced the abolition of the salaried position. Although this was due to the precarious financial state, some felt more sinister moves afoot. Negative news stories began emerging and resignations followed, Dr. Mayall became Acting Chairman until the May AGM when he was confirmed in that post by election. By 1992, the new team had the national membership over 1600 again, Dr. Mark Mayalls term as chairman expired in April 1993 and he left the group. Control passed effectively into the hands of Denis Walker, a former Minister for Education in the Rhodesian government, the national club established its offices at 51-53 Victoria Street, a few minutes walk from the Palace of Westminster. The club was, however, always a group, remaining separate from the Conservative Party organisation. Around 1980, the Victoria Street building was cleared for demolition, the newsletter stated that it is our long-term aim to relocate back to the very heart of London. B
Conservative Monday Club
–
Club header from the 1970s
Conservative Monday Club
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Three of the Young Members' Group at a Club Conference at
Chilham Castle, 1980:
John R. Pinniger (YMG Chairman), Richard Turnbull, & Gregory Lauder-Frost.
Conservative Monday Club
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Members gather for the club's 20th anniversary riverboat party organised by the Young Members' Group, 15 July 1981.
Conservative Monday Club
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The Foreign Affairs Committee were responsible for the club's 'Russia Dinner' on 11 January 1990, with
Vladimir Cyrillovich, Grand Duke of Russia, pretender to the Imperial throne, being the guest-of-honour.
32.
Norman Tebbit
–
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC is a British politician. He was a member of parliament from 1970 to 1992, representing the constituencies of Epping, in 1984, he was injured in the Provisional Irish Republican Armys bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where he was staying during the Conservative Party Conference. His wife Margaret was left disabled after the explosion. He left the government after the 1987 general election to care for his wife and he gave up his parliamentary seat for Chingford in 1992, and has since sat in the House of Lords as Baron Tebbit, of Chingford. Born in Ponders End, Middlesex to working parents, Tebbit went to Edmonton County Grammar School. Tebbit worked as a journalist for the Financial Times before serving with the Royal Air Force, during which time he flew Meteor and Vampire jets. In July 1954, at RAF Waterbeach near Cambridge, he had to open the cockpit canopy of a burning Meteor 8 aircraft to escape from it. On leaving the RAF he joined BOAC in 1953 as a navigator and pilot, of his airline navigation training, he later said, In those days it was a considerable academic syllabus. You had to be up to speed on spherical trigonometry to get through it. ”During his time at BOAC he was an official in the British Air Line Pilots Association and he flew Avro Yorks, Argonauts, Britannias, DC7Cs and the Boeing 707. He was elected MP for Epping in 1970 and then for Chingford in February 1974 and he is recorded as an MP member of the Conservative Monday Club in 1970. Tebbits first intervention as a MP was to ask a question of the then Minister at the Board of Trade and his question was on the subject of a crash of a Comet-4 aircraft in Spain on 3 July, which killed all the 112 people on board at the time. In 1975, six men were dismissed from their jobs because of the introduction of a shop and were denied unemployment benefit. Tebbit accused Foot of pure undiluted fascism and left Mr. Foot exposed as an opponent of freedom. The next day The Times first leader —titled IS MR, FOOT A FASCIST. —quoted Tebbit and went on, Mr. Foots doctrine is intolerable because it is a violation of the liberty of the ordinary man in his job. Mr. Tebbit is therefore using fascism in a descriptive sense when he accuses Mr. Foot of it. We perhaps need to revive the phrase social fascism to describe the modern British development of the corporate state, the question is not therefore, is Mr. Foot a fascist. But does Mr. Foot know he is a fascist, Tebbit involved himself in that dispute by making a controversial speech on 12 September 1977, in which he said, Inside Britain there is a. threat from the Marxist collectivist totalitarians. Just to state that fact is to be accused of union-bashing, such people are to be found in the Conservative, Liberal and Labour Parties
Norman Tebbit
–
The Right Honourable The Lord Tebbit
CH PC
33.
Harold Macmillan
–
Nicknamed Supermac, he was known for his pragmatism, wit and unflappability. Macmillan served in the Grenadier Guards during the First World War and he was wounded three times, most severely in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. He spent the rest of the war in a hospital unable to walk. After the war Macmillan joined his business, then entered Parliament in the 1924 General Election. After losing his seat in 1929, he regained it in 1931, soon after which he spoke out against the rate of unemployment in Stockton-On-Tees. When Eden resigned in 1957 after the Suez Crisis, Macmillan succeeded him as Prime Minister, benefiting from favourable international conditions, he presided over an age of affluence, marked by low unemployment and high if uneven growth. In his Bedford speech in July 1957 he told the nation they had never had it so good, the Conservatives were re-elected in 1959 with an increased majority on an electioneering budget. In international affairs, Macmillan rebuilt the special relationship with the United States from the wreckage of the Suez Crisis, after his resignation, Macmillan lived out a long retirement as an elder statesman. He was as trenchant a critic of his successors in his old age as he had been of his predecessors in his youth and he had two brothers, Daniel, eight years his senior, and Arthur, four years his senior. His paternal grandfather, Daniel MacMillan, who founded Macmillan publishing, was the son of a Scottish crofter from Isle of Arran, Macmillan claimed to remember Queen Victorias Diamond Jubilee, which occurred in 1897, but his memory seems to his biographer suspiciously similar to Philip Guedallas account. He remembered Queen Victoria’s funeral, the Relief of Mafeking and the victory of the “gallant little Japs” against the Russians at Tsushima, Macmillan received an intensive early education, closely guided by his American mother. He learned French at home every morning from a succession of nursery maids, from the age of six or seven he received introductory lessons in classical Latin and Greek at Mr Gladstones day school, close by in Sloane Square. Macmillan attended Summer Fields School, Oxford and he won an exhibition to Balliol, but was less of a scholar than his older brother Dan. He went up to Balliol College, Oxford, where he joined many political societies and his political opinions at this stage were an eclectic mix of moderate Conservatism, moderate Liberalism and Fabian Socialism. He read avidly about Disraeli, but was particularly impressed by a speech by Lloyd George at the Oxford Union Society in 1913. He obtained a First in Honours Moderations, informally known as Mods, with his final exams over two years away, he enjoyed an idyllic Trinity term at Oxford, just before the outbreak of the First World War. No such ball has been traced, and the Archduke’s murder was not announced in the British Press until 2 July, promoted to lieutenant on 30 January 1915, he soon transferred to the Grenadier Guards. He fought on the front lines in France, where the casualty rate was known to be high, as was the probability of an early and he served with distinction as a captain and was wounded on three occasions
Harold Macmillan
–
The Right Honourable The Earl of Stockton
OM PC FRS
Harold Macmillan
–
Macmillan (top row, left) with Allied military leaders in the Sicilian campaign, 1943;
Maj-Gen Bedell Smith to his right. Front Row: General
Eisenhower (then Supreme Commander, Mediterranean),
Air Chief Marshal Tedder,
General Alexander,
Admiral Cunningham
Harold Macmillan
–
Macmillan with Indian Minister and head of Indian delegation
Ashoke Kumar Sen and wife Anjana, daughter of
Sudhi Ranjan Das
Harold Macmillan
–
Macmillan being welcomed by
Prempeh II in January 1960
34.
War crimes
–
A war crime is an act that constitutes a serious violation of the law of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility. The concept of war crimes emerged at the turn of the century when the body of customary international law applicable to warfare between sovereign states was codified. Moreover, trials in national courts during this period further helped clarify the law, following the end of World War II, major developments in the law occurred. Numerous trials of Axis war criminals established the Nuremberg principles, such as notion that war crimes constituted crimes defined by international law, additionally, the Geneva Conventions in 1949 defined new war crimes and established that states could exercise universal jurisdiction over such crimes. The trial of Peter von Hagenbach by an ad hoc tribunal of the Holy Roman Empire in 1474 was the first international war crimes trial, and also of command responsibility. He was convicted and beheaded for crimes that he as a knight was deemed to have a duty to prevent, although he had argued that he was only following orders. In 1654 a Major Connaught was tried at Chester Assizes and hanged for his part in the massacre of villagers in the church at the village of Boughton, twelve villagers were smoked out, stripped naked and had their throats cut. He was hanged at the scene of the crime having been convicted of striking a blow to the head of John Fowler with an axe. The Geneva Conventions are four related treaties adopted and continuously expanded from 1864 to 1949 that represent a legal basis, accordingly, states retain different codes and values with regard to wartime conduct. Some signatories have routinely violated the Geneva Conventions in a way which either uses the ambiguities of law or political maneuvering to sidestep the laws formalities and principles. Three conventions were revised and expanded with the one added in 1949, First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded. Second Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick, third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Protocol II relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts. Protocol III relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem, a small number of German military personnel of the First World War were tried in 1921 by the German Supreme Court for alleged war crimes. The modern concept of war crime was further developed under the auspices of the Nuremberg Trials based on the definition in the London Charter that was published on August 8,1945. Along with war crimes the charter also defined crimes against peace and crimes against humanity, on July 1,2002, the International Criminal Court, a treaty-based court located in The Hague, came into being for the prosecution of war crimes committed on or after that date. Several nations, most notably the United States, China, Russia, the United States still participates as an observer. Article 12 of the Rome Statute provides jurisdiction over the citizens of non-contracting states in the event that they are accused of committing crimes in the territory of one of the state parties
War crimes
–
Criminology and
penology
War crimes
–
A picture taken by the
Polish Underground of
Nazi Secret Police rounding up Polish intelligentsia at
Palmiry near
Warsaw in 1940 for mass execution (
German AB-Aktion in occupied Poland).
War crimes
–
Suchow, China, 1938. A ditch full of the bodies of Chinese civilians, killed by
Japanese soldiers.
War crimes
–
HRW wrote that the
Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen that began on 26 March 2015 had conducted airstrikes in apparent violation of the laws of war.
35.
Repatriation of Cossacks after World War II
–
The Repatriation of Cossacks happened when Cossacks and ethnic Russians and Ukrainians who had collaborated with Nazi Germany were handed over to the USSR after the Second World War. Most of those Cossacks and Russians fought the Allies in service to the Axis powers, General Poliakov and Colonel Chereshneff referred to it as the Massacre of Cossacks at Lienz. During the Russian Civil War, thousands of Russians integral to the Volunteer Army, Cossack Hosts composed much of the White Movement, and so were the strongest counter-revolutionary force against the Bolshevik Government. The Cossacks who remained in Russia endured more than a decade of continual repression, the repressions ceased and some privileges were restored after publication of And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov. On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, the Soviet Union had already been a part of World War II with its occupation of eastern Poland, its attack on Finland and its occupation of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. The Wehrmacht recognized the Cossacks as military units with their own uniforms and insignia, by the wars end, the Cossack units had come under the command of the Waffen-SS. After Yalta, Churchill questioned Stalin, asking, “Did the Cossacks and other fight against us. ”Stalin replied, “They fought with ferocity, not to say savagery. There, they fought the partisans and persecuted the local population, when the Allies progressed from central Italy to the Italian Alps, Italian partisans under General Contini ordered the Cossacks to leave Carnia and go north to Austria. There, near Lienz, the British Army interned the Cossacks in a hastily established internment camp, for a few days, the British fed them, meanwhile, the Red Armys advance units approached to within a few miles east, rapidly advancing to meet the Allies. Many Cossack leaders had never been citizens of the Soviet Union, having fled revolutionary Russia in 1920, high-ranking officers were tried in Moscow, and then executed. On 17 January 1947, Krasnov and Shkuro were hanged in a public square, in total, some two million people were repatriated to the USSR at the end of the Second World War. On 28 May 1945, the British Army arrived at Camp Peggetz, in Lienz, one British officer told the Cossacks, “I assure you, on my word of honour as a British officer, that you are just going to a conference”. By then, British–Cossack relationships were friendly to the extent that many on both sides had developed feelings for the other. ”The first to commit suicide, by hanging, was the Cossack editor Evgenij Tarruski, the second was General Silkin, who shot himself. The Cossacks refused to board the trucks, British soldiers with pistols and clubs began using their clubs, aiming at the heads of the prisoners. They first dragged the men out of the crowd, and threw them into the trucks and they beat them again, and threw them onto the floor of the trucks. The British then hit them with rifle butts until they lay unconscious, — Operation Keelhaul, by Julius Epstein. The British transported the Cossacks to a prison where the Soviets assumed their custody, in the town of Tristach, Austria, there is a memorial commemorating General von Pannwitz and the soldiers of the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps who were killed in action or died as POWs. Nikolai Tolstoy quotes a General Alexander telegram, sent to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, noting 50,000 Cossacks including 11,000 women, children, at a location near Graz, British forces repatriated around 40,000 Cossacks to SMERSH
Repatriation of Cossacks after World War II
–
The
Big Three: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta conference.
36.
United Kingdom general election, 1987
–
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on Thursday 11th June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservatives ran a campaign focusing on lower taxes, a strong economy and they also emphasised that unemployment had fell below 3,000,000 for the first time since 1981, and inflation was standing at 4%, its lowest level for over twenty years. The tabloid media also had support for the Conservatives, particularly The Sun. The Labour Party, led by Neil Kinnock, was moving towards a more centrist policy platform. Indeed, the Labour Party succeeded in doing so at this general election, the Conservatives were returned to government, having suffered a net loss of only twenty-one seats, leaving them with 376 MPs. Labour succeeded in resisting the challenge by the SDP-Liberal Alliance to replace them as the main opposition, however, Labour still returned only 229 MPs to Westminster. The election was a disappointment for the SDP-Liberal Alliance, who saw their vote share decline and this led to the two parties eventually amalgamating to become the Liberal Democrats. The election night was covered live on the BBC, and presented by David Dimbleby, Peter Snow and it was also broadcast on ITV and presented by Sir Alastair Burnet, Peter Sissons and Alastair Stewart. The 1987 general election saw the election of the first Black and ethnic minority Members of Parliament, Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng, Bernie Grant, and Keith Vaz. The Conservatives campaign emphasized lower taxes, an economy, and defence. Norman Tebbit and Saatchi and Saatchi spearheaded the Conservative campaign and this was when, according to Youngs memoirs, Young got Tebbit by the lapels and shook him, shouting, Norman, listen to me, were about to lose this fucking election. In his memoirs Tebbit defends the Conservative campaign, We finished exactly as planned on the ground where Labour was weak and we were strong – defence, taxation, during the election campaign however Tebbit and Thatcher argued. The first Conservative party political broadcast played on the theme of Freedom and ended with a fluttering Union Jack, the hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country and the slogan, Its Great To Be Great Again. Labours first party political broadcast, dubbed Kinnock, The Movie, was directed by Hugh Hudson of Chariots of Fire fame, kinnocks personal popularity jumped 16 points overnight after the initial broadcast. The Conservatives were returned by a landslide victory with a comfortable majority. Yet the overall result of this proved that the policies of Margaret Thatcher retained significant support. Despite initial optimism and the professional campaign run by Neil Kinnock, in many southern areas, the Labour vote actually fell, with the party losing seats in London. However, it represented a victory against the SDP–Liberal Alliance
United Kingdom general election, 1987
–
All
650 seats in the
House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
United Kingdom general election, 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1987
–
Data from Guardian daily polls published in
The Guardian between April and June 1987 Colour Key: BLUE Conservative, RED Labour, ORANGE SDP-Liberal Alliance, BLACK Others
37.
Merchant banking
–
A merchant bank is a financial institution providing capital to companies in the form of share ownership instead of loans. A merchant bank also provides advisory on corporate matters to the firms in which they invest, in the United Kingdom, the historical term merchant bank refers to an investment bank. Both commercial banks and investment banks may engage in merchant banking activities, historically, merchant banks original purpose was to facilitate and/or finance production and trade of commodities, hence the name merchant. Few banks today restrict their activities to such a narrow scope, Merchant banks were in fact the first modern banks. As the Lombardy merchants and bankers grew in stature based on the strength of the Lombard plains cereal crops, the Florentine merchant banking community was exceptionally active and propagated new finance practices all over Europe. Both Jews and Florentine merchants perfected ancient practices used in the Middle East trade routes, originally intended for the finance of long trading journeys, these methods were applied to finance the medieval commercial revolution. In France during the 17th and 18th century, a merchant banker or marchand-banquier was not just considered a trader, Merchant banks in the United Kingdom came into existence in the early 19th century, the oldest being Barings Bank. The Jews could not hold land in Italy, so entered the great trading piazzas and halls of Lombardy, alongside the local traders. They had one advantage over the locals. Christians were strictly forbidden from any kind of lending at interest, in this way they could secure the grain-sale rights against the eventual harvest. They then began to advance payment against the delivery of grain shipped to distant ports. In both cases they made their profit from the present discount against the future price and this two-handed trade was time-consuming and soon there arose a class of merchants who were trading grain debt instead of grain. The buying of future crop and the trading of debt is analogous to the future contract market in modern finance. The Court Jew performed both financing and underwriting functions, financing took the form of a crop loan at the beginning of the growing season, which allowed a farmer to develop and manufacture his annual crop. Underwriting in the form of a crop, or commodity, insurance guaranteed the delivery of the crop to its buyer, typically a merchant wholesaler. He could also keep the farmer in business during a drought or other crop failure, and so the merchants benches in the great grain markets became centers for holding money against a bill. These deposited funds were intended to be held for the settlement of grain trades, the term bankrupt is a corruption of the Italian banca rotta, or broken bench, which is what happened when someone lost his traders deposits. Being broke has the same connotation, once again this merely developed what was an ancient method of financing long-distance transport of goods
Merchant banking
–
Johann Hinrich Gossler, a prominent Hamburg merchant banker of the 18th century
38.
Julian Lewis (MP)
–
Julian Murray Lewis is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, who has been Member of Parliament for New Forest East in Hampshire since the 1997 general election. Born in Swansea, Wales, Lewis was educated at Dynevor School, Swansea and then at Balliol College, Oxford, receiving a BA, later promoted to MA, in Philosophy and Politics. He studied as a postgraduate at St Antonys College, Oxford, prentice himself later joined the Conservatives. Lewis was an opponent of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. From 1981–1985, he was Research Director of the Coalition for Peace through Security, from 1985, he has been Director of Policy Research Associates. In Parliament, he pursues the retention and renewal of the British strategic nuclear deterrent. He contested Swansea West at the 1983 general election, as MP for New Forest East, he successfully opposed the development of a large container port at Dibden Bay, between Marchwood and Hythe, and waged other high-profile local campaigns. Before joining the Front Bench, he was a Member of the Defence Select Committee and the Welsh Select Committee, Lewis was appointed as a member of Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee in September 2010. He has also been a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Poland, julian Lewis has been described by The Daily Telegraph as one of the most vigorous rightwingers in the Commons and by The Guardian as the Conservative Partys front bench terrier. He was one of the Frontbenchers & Backbenchers of the Year chosen by commentators on the ConservativeHome website, in December 2009 and December 2010 respectively. His constituency casework has always carried out by correspondence, telephone and surgery appointments, but not by e-mail. In May 2014, he was one of eight candidates for the chairmanship of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, Lewis had been in the lead in four of the seven stages of this Alternative Vote election. He was elected as a member of the Defence Select Committee at a by-election in October 2014, whilst remaining on the Intelligence, in March 2015, he was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and therefore granted the title The Right Honourable. In June 2015, he was elected to the Chair of the Commons Defence Select Committee by 314 votes to 242, more than 250 backbenchers from all parties, as well as members of the Government and the Shadow Cabinet, supported this campaign. In March 2009, his amendment to the Political Parties and Elections Bill was carried by a majority of 59, in both Houses, Labour and Conservatives were granted Free Votes on the Lewis Amendment, and Liberal Democrats were whipped to vote against it. He maintained that, “At no stage did I claim for the flooring, in April 2010, he was asked why he had opposed lowering the age of consent for homosexual relationships, eleven years earlier, in 1999. He stated that this had been because of his belief that the decision to any extra risk of contracting HIV should be taken on reaching the current age of majority. He added that he had twice voted voluntarily in favour of the Civil Partnership Bill in 2004, in February 2011, he strongly opposed, and was one of three Conservative MPs who voted against, Coalition plans to transfer heritage forests from public ownership to trusts
Julian Lewis (MP)
–
Julian Lewis at Portcullis House November 2015
39.
London Borough of Lambeth
–
Lambeth is a London borough in south London, England, which forms part of Inner London. Its name was recorded in 1062 as Lambehitha and in 1255 as Lambeth, Lambeth was part of the large, ancient parish of Lambeth St Mary, the site of the archepiscopal Lambeth Palace, in the hundred of Brixton in the county of Surrey. It was an elongated north-south parish with 2 miles of River Thames frontage opposite the cities of London, Lambeth became part of the Metropolitan Police District in 1829. It remained a parish for Poor Law purposes after the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, until 1889, Surrey included the present-day London borough of Lambeth. Young was commissioned to make recommendations to the government on the shape of the future London boroughs. However, Wandsworths suggestion to merge Lambeth with the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea was rejected by both councils involved, in 1979, the administration of Edward Knight organised the boroughs first public demonstration against the Thatcher government. In 1985 Knights Labour administration was subjected to rate-capping, with its budget restricted by the government, Knight and most of the Labour councillors protested by refusing to propose budgets. As a result of the protest,32 councillors were ordered to repay interest lost by the due to budgeting delays and were disqualified from office. In 1991, Joan Twelves administration failed to collect the poll tax, the following year, Twelves and 12 other councillors were suspended from the local Labour Party by regional officials for advocating non-payment of the poll tax and other radical ideas. Twelves equally-militant deputy leader at this time was John Harrison, from 1978 to 2002 the council comprised 64 members, elected from 20 three-member and two two-member wards. Before this, the council had 60 members elected from 20 three-member wards, just before the 2010 election, its political balance was 37 Labour members,18 Liberal Democrats, seven Conservatives and one Green, giving Labour an eleven-member majority. In the 2010 Lambeth Council election, Labour gained seats and the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, in 2014 the Liberal Democrats lost their seats, Conservatives were reduced to three and the Greens to one. Labour, gaining seats from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, had 59 seats, in the 2016 European Union referendum, Lambeth at 78. 62% had the highest share of Remain vote in the United Kingdom, second to Gibraltars 95. 9%. Lambeth is a long, thin borough, about 3 miles wide and 7 miles long, Brixton is its civic centre, and there are other town centres. The largest shopping areas are Streatham, Brixton, Vauxhall, Clapham, in the northern part of the borough are the central London districts of the South Bank, Vauxhall and Lambeth, in the south are the suburbs of Gipsy Hill, Streatham, West Dulwich and West Norwood. Vauxhall and South Lambeth are central districts in the process of redevelopment with high-density business, Streatham is between suburban London and inner-city Brixton, with the suburban and developed areas of Streatham, Streatham Hill and Streatham Vale. Despite the boroughs population density, Lambeth has open spaces, along and around the South Bank, a tourist area has developed around the former Greater London Council headquarters of County Hall and the Southbank Centre and National Theatre. Also on the river is the London Eye and Shell Centre, nearby is St Thomas Hospital, Lambeth Palace and the Florence Nightingale Museum
London Borough of Lambeth
–
Coat of arms
London Borough of Lambeth
–
shown within
Greater London
London Borough of Lambeth
–
London Eye
London Borough of Lambeth
–
Sunlight Laundry
40.
Special advisers (UK government)
–
A special adviser works in a supporting role to the British government. With media, political or policy expertise, their duty is to assist and they are often referred to as SPADs. Being a special advisor has become a frequent career stage for young politicians, before being elected Members of Parliament, special advisers are paid by central government and are styled as so-called temporary civil servants appointed under Article 3 of the Civil Service Order in Council 1995. For this reason, advisers may resign when an election is called to campaign on behalf of their party. Special advisers have sometimes been criticised for engaging in advocacy while still on the government payroll or switching directly between lobbying roles and the adviser role. A large number have gone on to accept lucrative jobs in the private sector. There is no limit on the number of special advisers. The government had previously accepted calls, made in 2000 by the Neill Committee on Standards in Public Life, the issue is about being transparent about accountability, roles and responsibilities and numbers. At the last full reporting the government had 68 such personnel in its employment,18 of whom worked in 10 Downing Street, special advisers may be paid up to £142,668. Before his resignation Andy Coulson was the highest paid special adviser with a salary of £140,000, the total cost of special advisers in 2006–07 was £5.9 million
Special advisers (UK government)
–
United Kingdom
41.
Jonathan Aitken
–
Jonathan William Patrick Aitken is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom for 24 years, and a former British government Cabinet minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence and he is currently president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Aitken was also a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Aitkens parents were Sir William Traven Aitken, KBE, a former Conservative MP, and the Hon. Penelope Aitken, MBE, JP, daughter of John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby. Aitken is a great-nephew of newspaper magnate and war-time minister Max Aitken and his sister is the actress Maria Aitken and his nephew is the actor Jack Davenport. He is godfather to James Abbott, the son of Labour left-winger Diane Abbott, in 1979, Aitken married Lolicia Olivera Azucki, a daughter of O. Azucki of Zurich, Switzerland, they divorced in 1998. With his first wife, he had daughters and one son, Alexandra and Victoria Aitken. He married his wife, the Hon. Elizabeth Harris, daughter of David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore, TD, PC. The paternity of Aitken himself has similarly been under question, in December 2008, Dutch historian Cees Fasseur claimed that former Aitken was the result of a wartime affair between Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Penelope Aitken. Aitken was born in Dublin, Ireland and his grandfather Lord Rugby was in 1939 the first British representative to the newly independent Irish state, at a time when Anglo-Irish relations were strained but improving. Aitkens baptism took place on 16 October 1942 at St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin, the third name, Patrick, was included at a late stage owing to the unexpected international importance of the occasion –- one of the Irish papers reported British envoys grandson is a real Paddy. The Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, who knew his grandparents, asked to attend the christening, also attending was Princess Juliana as his godmother. His father was injured as an RAF pilot when his Spitfire was shot down in World War II. Aitken recovered and was discharged from the hospital aged seven and he lived with his parents at Halesworth, Suffolk, and learnt to walk properly again within a few months. Aitken attended Eton College and read law at Christ Church, Oxford and he was also a journalist at Yorkshire Television from 1968 to 1970, presenting the regional news show Calendar. Aitken was the first person to be seen on screen from Yorkshire Television when it started broadcasting, as a result of the case he was dropped as the Conservative candidate for the Thirsk and Malton parliamentary constituency. In 1993 Aitken published a biography, Nixon, A Life. Although his was not a biography, Aitken was one of the few biographers from whom Nixon accepted questions. Having been defeated at Meriden in 1966, he was elected as MP for Thanet East in the February 1974 general election and this information had come to Aitken from retired CIA spymaster James Angleton
Jonathan Aitken
–
Brooke
42.
Virginia Bottomley
–
Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Bottomley, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, PC, DL is a British Conservative Party politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1984 to 2005 and she was raised to the peerage in 2005. She was a member of the Supervisory Board of Akzo Nobel NV from 2000–12, as part of her pro-bono activities, Virginia is Chancellor of the University of Hull. She was a Governor of the London School of Economics for 31 years and she is a member of the UK Advisory Council of the International Chamber of Commerce. She has been Chair of the Board Practice at executive head-hunting firm Odgers Berndtson where she has been since 2000 and her paternal aunt was Labour Greater London Council Member Margaret Jay. She first met Peter Bottomley, her husband, when she was 12 years old. Bottomley was educated at Putney High School, an independent school for girls in Putney in south-west London and she later graduated from the London School of Economics with the degree of Master of Arts. She began her life as a social scientist, researcher for Child Poverty Action Group, social worker, magistrate. She was appointed a member of the Privy Council upon joining John Majors Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in 1992 and she was the 9th woman in the British cabinet. She then served as Secretary of State for National Heritage from 1995 to 1997, after the 1997 general election, she returned to the backbenches, also become a headhunter at Odgers. She stepped down from the House of Commons when the 2005 general election was called, Bottomley is involved with charitable and academic bodies in addition to business. She was on the founding Council of the University of the Arts and she is also a Council Member of the Ditchley Foundation and was President of Farnham Castle, Centre for International Briefing. From 2000 until May 2012 she has sat on the Supervisory Board of Akzo Nobel and she was a non-executive director of Bupa, a healthcare company. She is on the Advisory Council of the International Chamber of Commerce UK and was for the Judge School of Management, Bottomley has been a trustee and is a fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust. She was National President of the Abbeyfield Society and a Vice-Patron of Carers and she was a lay canon of Guildford Cathedral, and a Freeman of the City of London. In 2006, she was elected and installed as Chancellor of the University of Hull and she was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey in March of that year and Sheriff of Hull in 2013. Virginia Garnett married Sir Peter Bottomley in 1967, after the birth of their eldest child and they live in Westminster and Milford, Surrey, they have three children, Cecilia, Adela and Joshua and eight grandchildren. Bottomleys family includes many figures in politics and public life and her brother, Christopher Garnett, was the chief executive of train operating company GNER
Virginia Bottomley
–
The Right Honourable The Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone
PC DL
43.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
–
Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
–
Flag
Poland
–
Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
–
Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
44.
United Kingdom general election, 1992
–
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. It was the last outright win for the Conservatives until 2015 and this election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown the Labour Party, under leader Neil Kinnock, consistently, if narrowly, ahead. John Major had won the election in November 1990 following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher. The economy was facing a recession around the time of Majors appointment, because it confounded the opinion polls, the 1992 election was one of the most dramatic elections in the UK since the end of the Second World War. The BBCs live television broadcast of the results was presented by David Dimbleby and Peter Snow. Sky News presented full coverage of an election night for the first time. The Conservative Party received what remains the largest number of votes in British history, Labour began to lead the Conservatives in the opinion polls by as much as 20 percentage points. Thatcher resigned after the party leadership ballot in November 1990 and was replaced by John Major and this was well received by the public, Labour lost some momentum as it reduced the impact of their calls for Time for a Change. Parliament was due to no later than 16 June 1992. Major called the election on 11 March, shortly after Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont had delivered the Budget, under the leadership of Neil Kinnock the Labour party had undergone further developments and alterations since its 1987 election defeat. Labour entered the campaign confident, with most opinion polls showing a slight Labour lead that if maintained suggested a hung parliament, the parties campaigned on the familiar grounds of taxation and health care. Major became known for delivering his speeches while standing on an upturned soapbox during public meetings, immigration was also an issue, with Home Secretary Kenneth Baker making a controversial speech stating that, under Labour, the floodgates would be opened for immigrants from developing countries. Some speculated that this was a bid by the Conservatives to shore up its support amongst its white working-class supporters. The Conservatives also pounded the Labour Party over the issue of taxation, producing a memorable poster entitled Labours Double-Whammy, showing a boxer wearing gloves marked tax rises, Labour seemingly recovered from the NHS controversy, and opinion polls on 1 April showed a clear Labour lead. But the lead fell considerably in the following days polls, however some analysts and participants in the campaign believed it actually had little effect, with the event only receiving widespread attention after the election. This was the first general election for the newly formed Liberal Democrats and its formation had not been without its problems, but under the strong leadership of Paddy Ashdown, who proved to be a likeable and candid figure, the party went into the election ready. They focused on education throughout the campaign, as well as a promise on reforming the voting system, in Scotland the Scottish National Party hoped for a major electoral breakthrough in 1992 and had run a hard independence campaign with Free by 93 as their slogan. Although the party increased its vote by 50% compared to 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1992
–
All
651 seats in the
House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
United Kingdom general election, 1992
United Kingdom general election, 1992
45.
Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Bristol South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Karin Smyth of the Labour Party. 1885-1918, The Municipal Borough of Bristol wards of Bedminster East, Bedminster West, Bristol, and Redcliffe, 1918-1950, The County Borough of Bristol wards of Bedminster East, Bedminster West, and Southville, and part of Somerset ward. 1950-1955, The County Borough of Bristol wards of Bedminster, Somerset, Southville, 1955-1983, The County Borough of Bristol wards of Bedminster, Bishopsworth, Hengrove, Somerset, and Southville. 1983-1997, The City of Bristol wards of Bedminster, Bishopsworth, Filwood, Hartcliffe, Knowle, Southville, Whitchurch Park, 1997–present, The City of Bristol wards of Bedminster, Bishopsworth, Filwood, Hartcliffe, Hengrove, Knowle, Southville, Whitchurch Park, and Windmill Hill. The constituency covers the south-west of Bristol, bounded by the Avon New Cut to the north, the A37 Wells Road to the east, the seat has elected Labour MPs since 1935. The incumbent prior to Smyth was Dame Dawn Primarolo who held the seat for 28 years and she was a Minister of the Crown in the Blair Ministry and throughout the Coalition Government 2010 was a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Howell Davies
Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Boundary of Bristol South in Avon for the 2010 general election.
Bristol South (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Walter Long
46.
Surrey Heath (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Surrey Heath is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Michael Gove, a Conservative. Surrey Heath occupies the northwest corner of the county, the Boundary Commission made no boundary changes for Surrey Heath in the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies before the 2010 general election. The large village of Ash with Ash Vale and smaller one of Tongham are contiguous, the constituency was created in 1997 from the most part of the seat of North West Surrey and smaller parts of Woking and Guildford, seats which remain. On the seats creation, Nick Hawkins was elected to Parliament following the retirement of Surrey North West MP Michael Grylls who in 1992 achieved a majority of 28,392, one of Hawkins opponents for selection was future Speaker, John Bercow. Bercow was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Buckingham constituency on the same day, in 2004, the Conservative constituency association, then the richest in the country, deselected their MP Nick Hawkins in the hope of obtaining an MP of Cabinet calibre. The Member since 2005, Michael Gove, was formerly Secretary of State for Justice, in terms of housing 70% of homes are detached or semi-detached at the 2011 census. The detached percentage was at time the second highest in the South East. The area is connected to London Heathrow Airport, IT, telecommunications and logistics centres of the M3 and M4 corridors and to the military towns of Aldershot. Farnborough with its civil, private aviation base with certain military uses is also nearby, as is Blackbushe Airport. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the average of 3. 8%. The constituency is one of the Conservative partys safest seats, with most wards firmly in their camp, according to the British Election Study, it is the most right-wing seat in the UK. List of Parliamentary constituencies in Surrey Notes References Election result,2010 Election result,2005 Election results,1997 -2001 Election results,1997 -2001 Election results,1997 -2010
Surrey Heath (UK Parliament constituency)
–
Boundary of Surrey Heath in Surrey.
47.
United Kingdom general election, 2005
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The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday,5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party led by Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, as of 2017, it remains the last Labour general election victory in the UK. The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy, however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity even before the decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003. The Liberal Democrats, led by Charles Kennedy, were opposed to the Iraq War given that there had no second UN resolution. Tony Blair was returned as Prime Minister, with Labour having 355 MPs but with a vote of 35. 2%. In terms of votes they were only ahead of the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats saw their vote increase by 3. 7% and won the most seats for any third party since 1923. The more hardline Democratic Unionist Party became the largest Northern Irish party, the election results were broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by Peter Snow, David Dimbleby, Jeremy Paxman and Andrew Marr. The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, was looking to secure a consecutive term in office. The Conservative Party was seeking to regain seats lost to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats since the 1992 general election, and move from being the Official Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both parties, but especially the Conservative Party, with a decapitation strategy targeting members of the Shadow Cabinet. The pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru stood candidates in every constituency in Scotland, many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. The Health Concern party also stood again, a full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the 2005 general election. All parties campaigned using such tools as party manifestos, party political broadcasts, local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for fifteen hours, from 07,00 to 22,00 BST, the election came just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April, thanks to eight years of sustained economic growth Labour could point to a strong economy, with greater investment in public services such as education and health. This was overshadowed, however, by the issue of the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq, which met widespread public criticism at the time, and would dog Blair throughout the campaign. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, played a prominent role in the campaign, frequently appearing with Tony Blair
United Kingdom general election, 2005
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All
646 seats to the
House of Commons 324 seats needed for a majority
United Kingdom general election, 2005
United Kingdom general election, 2005
United Kingdom general election, 2005
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Unofficial
tellers, wearing party rosettes, sit outside
polling stations collecting voter registration numbers
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United Kingdom general election, 2010
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The United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday,6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system, none of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, won the largest number of votes and seats and this resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the general election since World War II to return a hung parliament. The coalition government that was formed was the first coalition in British history to eventuate directly from an election outcome. The hung parliament came in spite of the Conservatives managing a higher share of the vote than the previous Labour government had done in 2005 that had a comfortable majority, Coalition talks began immediately between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and lasted for five days. There was an attempt to put together a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition. To facilitate this Gordon Brown announced on the evening of Monday 10 May that he would resign as Labour Party leader. Realising that a deal with the Conservatives was in reach, the day on Tuesday 11 May, Brown announced his resignation as Prime Minister. This was accepted by Queen Elizabeth II, who then invited David Cameron to form a government in her name and become Prime Minister, none of the three main party leaders had previously led a general election campaign, a situation which had not occurred since the 1979 election. During the campaign, the three party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates, the first such debates in a British general election campaign. The Liberal Democrats achieved a breakthrough in opinion polls after the first debate, nonetheless on polling day their share of the vote increased by only 1% over the previous general election, and they suffered a net loss of five seats. This was still the Liberal Democrats largest popular vote since the partys creation, the share of votes for parties other than Labour or the Conservatives was 35%, the largest since the 1918 general election. In terms of votes it was the most three-cornered election since 1923, the Green Party of England and Wales won its first ever seat in the Commons, and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland also gained its first elected member. The General Election saw a 5. 1% national swing from Labour to the Conservatives, the result in one constituency, Oldham East and Saddleworth, was subsequently declared void on petition because of illegal practices during the campaign, the first such instance since 1910. The election took place on 6 May in 649 constituencies across the United Kingdom, under the first-past-the-post system, voting in the Thirsk and Malton constituency was postponed for three weeks because of the death of a candidate. The governing Labour Party had campaigned to secure a consecutive term in office. The Conservative Party sought to gain a dominant position in British politics after losses in the 1990s, the Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both sides and hoped to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament
United Kingdom general election, 2010
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All
650 seats in the
House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
United Kingdom general election, 2010
United Kingdom general election, 2010
United Kingdom general election, 2010
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An election sign in a residential property.
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