1.
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
–
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
2.
Department of Health (England)
–
It oversees the English National Health Service. The Department is led by the Secretary of State for Health with a Minister of State, the Department of Health develops policies and guidelines to improve the quality of care and to meet patient expectations. The Department of Health was formally created in 1988, through The Transfer of Functions Order, like many others, the Department with responsibility for the nations health has had different names and included other functions over time. In the 19th century, several bodies were formed for specific consultative duties, there were two incarnations of the Board of Health and a General Board of Health that reported directly into the Privy Council. In the early part of the 20th century, medical assistance was provided through National Health Insurance Commissions, in 1968, the Ministry of Health was dissolved and its functions transferred to the newly created Department of Health and Social Security. Twenty years later, these functions were split back into two government departments, forming the Department of Social Security and the current Department of Health, the Departments headquarters and ministerial offices are in Richmond House. Its other principal offices are Skipton House, Wellington House near Waterloo station, Wellington House is now mainly occupied by staff from the departments arms-length bodies. New Kings Beam House near Blackfriars Bridge was formerly a Department of Health office prior to the expiry of its lease in October 2011, alexander Fleming House and Hannibal House were previously used by the department. The archives are at Nelson, Lancashire, the Department of Health ministers are as follows, The Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health is Chris Wormald, who was appointed in 2016. Previous permanent secretaries, Una OBrien, 2010-2016 Sir Hugh Taylor KCB 2006–2010 Sir Nigel Crisp KCB 2000–2006 Sir Christopher Kelly KCB 1997–2000 Sir Graham Hart KCB 1992–. Following the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the creation of the independent NHS Commissioning Board, known as NHS England, as of 1 April 2014, the incumbent is Simon Stevens. The Department has six chief professional officers who provide it with expert knowledge and also advise the Ministers, other government departments, the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer are also directors of the departments board. Chief Medical Officer for England — Professor Dame Sally Davies, appointed in 2011, Chief Dental Officer for England — Barry Cockcroft, appointed in 2006. Chief Health Professions Officer — Karen Middleton, appointed in 2007, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer — Dr Keith William Ridge, appointed in 2006. Public Health England is responsible for delivering public health improvement, through prevention and awareness raising, the NHS Digital, which provides statistical information and informatics support to the health and care system. Health Education England is responsible for ensuring enough high-quality training is available to develop the healthcare workforce, the Human Tissue Authority regulates the use of human tissue in research and therapeutic treatments. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates and inspects in vitro fertilisation, artificial insemination and it also regulates human embryo research. Monitor, which oversees Foundation Trusts and applications from NHS Trusts seeking foundation trust status and it also has the new role of examining pricing and competition in the NHS
3.
Theresa May
–
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
4.
Alistair Burt
–
Alistair James Hendrie Burt is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been the Member of Parliament for North East Bedfordshire since 2001, Burt was Minister of State at the Department of Health from May 2015 to July 2016. He became a clerk with Slater Heelis & Co. of Manchester in 1978. He was elected as a councillor to the Haringey Borough Council in 1982 and he contested the new seat of Bury North at the 1983 general election at which he was elected as the Conservative MP for Bury North with a majority of 2,792 votes. He represented the seat until 1997 and returned to parliament again in 2001 and he was one of many ministers who lost their seats at the 1997 general election when Bury North fell to Labours David Chaytor by 7,866 votes. From 1997-2001 he worked at executive search firm Whitehead Mann GKR, Burt was elected with a majority of 8,577, and has remained as an MP since. After the 2005 general election he rejoined the front bench and was a spokesman on Local Government Affairs, however, in January 2008, Burt was promoted to Assistant Chief Whip and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for Internal Development. Burt is an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel. In December 2008, he led an all-Party group meeting with the Red Cross to campaign for visiting rights for the Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit and he is a member of the Political Council of the Henry Jackson Society. He is also joint founder and first Chairman of The Enterprise Forum and he is a Vice-President of the Tory Reform Group. Burt was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for three years, afterwards promoted to a Minister of State from 1995 to 1997, at the Department of Social Security, Burt was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 14 May 2010. His roles there included overseeing British-Syria policy for three years included the start of the Syrian Civil War, and leading on Israeli issues for the government at the United Nations. He stepped down on 7 October 2013, in June 2014 Burt called the lack of intervention in Syria a disaster. After the Conservative victory in the United Kingdom general election,2015 on 11 May, Burt returned to Government as Minister of State for Care and Support in the Department of Health. As a Conservative health minister, he blocked a new law to provide cheap, Burt spoke in Parliament for nearly half an hour to “filibuster” the proposed Off-Patent Drugs Bill, a plan that had cross-party support from backbenchers. He said “It is not always the case that brought forward by a charity. Its not disgraceful - its the right answer and it was made clear that his resignation was not related to Brexit. Historically Alistair Burt had been active in seeking justice for the victims of the Tainted Blood Scandal but had been publicly quiet on the issue in 2015/2016 due to his Ministerial position
5.
Caroline Dinenage
–
Caroline Julia Dinenage is an English Conservative Party politician who was elected as Member of Parliament for Gosport at the 2010 general election. She was re-elected with an majority in 2015. In July 2014, she was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan. In May 2015, Dinenage was appointed to the roles of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and Minister for Women. In July 2016, Dinenage was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities, Dinenage was born on 28 October 1971, the daughter of television presenter Fred Dinenage. She has lived in South Hampshire for most of her life and she attended Oaklands RC Comprehensive School, Waterlooville, and then studied Politics and English at Swansea University. In 2010, Dinenage announced that she would sell her share in the business. In June 2015, Dinenage gave up her share in the business. Dinenage began her career in Winchester, where she was a member of the local council for five years. She stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Portsmouth South in the 2005 general election, Dinenage was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Gosport in the 2010 general election with a majority of 14,413. She was re-elected with a majority of 17,098, Dinenage sat on the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee between November 2012 and March 2015. In June 2013, she was appointed one of 12 small business ambassadors by the prime minister, Dinenage has taken an interest in defence issues, and has successfully campaigned in particular for a medal for the veterans of the Arctic convoys of World War II. She served as the vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Armed Forces for four years between 2010 and 2014 and she was selected by the foreign secretarys office as a member of the UKs NATO delegation, and elected as vice-chairman of a NATO Science and Technology Sub-Committee. In October 2013, Dinenage led a Parliamentary debate on adult literacy and numeracy, in 2014, she formed the All Party Parliamentary Group for Maths and Numeracy of which she is Co-Chair. In July 2014, she was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Women and Equalities, Nicky Morgan. In May 2015, Dinenage was appointed to the roles of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and Minister for Women. In July 2016, Dinenage was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Women, Equalities, preventing same-sex couples from being allowed to marry takes nothing away from their relationship. On 5 February 2013, Dinenage voted against the Marriage Bill in the second reading debate, however, she did not vote against the Bill in subsequent votes
6.
David Cameron
–
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
7.
Peter Luff
–
Sir Peter James Luff is Chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund. Formerly a British Conservative Party politician and he was the Member of Parliament for Mid Worcestershire from 1997 to 2015, for Worcester from 1992 until 1997. He was a Defence minister from 2010-2012, Peter Luff was born in the Berkshire town of Windsor and attended the local Windsor Grammar School on Maidenhead Road. He studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1976, as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts degree. Before entering parliament he worked for three years from 1977 as an assistant to the Conservative MP Peter Walker, before heading up Edward Heaths private office for two years from 1980. He became the director of Good Relations Ltd, a public affairs company in 1982. In 1987 he became an adviser to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. He became a consultant for Lowe Bell Communications in 1989. He contested Holborn and St Pancras at the 1987 general election and he was first elected to Parliament for Worcester, when he succeeded his former boss, Peter Walker. He won the seat comfortably and has been a member of the House of Commons since 1992 and he is the founder member of the Parliamentary Hunting with Hounds Middle Way Group, and takes a keen parliamentary interest in India. In the 2015 general election, Luff stood down as a candidate, nigel Huddleston was chosen to be the new Conservative Party candidate for Mid Worcestershire. Luff was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for political and he joined the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund as Chair 30 March 2015. He married Julia Jenks in 1982 and they have a son and daughter
8.
Harriett Baldwin
–
Harriett Mary Morison Baldwin is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament for West Worcestershire since 2010 and she was born Harriett Mary Morison Eggleston in Watford, Hertfordshire, the daughter of a teacher. Her childhood was spent in Cyprus and in the village of Felsted in Essex and she was educated at the Friends School, Saffron Walden, Marlborough College in Wiltshire, and read Modern Languages at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She earned an MBA from McGill University in Montreal, Baldwin joined the investment bank JP Morgan Chase in 1986, becoming managing director and Head of Currency Management at their London office in 1998. She left the bank in 2008 and served as vice-chair of Social Investment Business between 2008 and 2012 and she contested the Stockton North constituency at the 2005 general election. Following the retirement of Michael Spicer at the 2010 general election and she has served both as vice-chair on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Occupational Pensions and vice-chair and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Russia, leaving both APPGs in 2014. She has also represented the UK in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Baldwin was appointed to become the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Russia before joining the Government in February 2014 as Assistant Government Whip. In the Government reshuffle of July 2014 she was promoted to the role of Government Whip, after the 2015 election of a Conservative government, again under David Cameron, she was promoted to Economic Secretary to the Treasury. In July 2016, Baldwin was appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Ministry of Defence as part of the Government reshuffle by new Prime Minister Theresa May and she has a son and two step-daughters with husband Jim Baldwin
