Forming a Government. The Cabinet. The party which wins the most seats in the General Election
forms the government in Britain. The leader of the winning
party becomes Prime Minister. As leaders of their political
parties and leaders of the country, Prime Ministers are powerful
because they have the majority support in Parliament and
they can choose their own ministers and government.
The PM, chooses a committee of ministers called the Cabinet. This is made up of a selection of senior MPs from the House of
Commons and some members of the House of Lords. Each
member of the Cabinet is a minister responsible for a
government department: for example, the Secretary of State
for Education and Science is responsible for all the schools,
universities and teachers in Britain. The Cabinet of ministers
runs the country. The Cabinet meets at the Prime Minister's
house — 10 Downing Street.
The cabinet works as a team and all ministers must accept the decisions of the "group". The team of ministers must always agree in public because they are collectively responsible for the decisions they make. If a minister cannot agree with all the others, he usually resigns from the cabinet. Cabinet meetings are held in private and the details must remain secret for at least 30 years. Margaret Thatcher tried to change this style of the Cabinet and was forced to resign when the other ministers could not agree
with her.
Cabinet ministers cannot, however, do as they please!
They are responsible to Parliament and must answer questions
from backbenchers from the House of Commons. Even the
Prime Minister must answer questions every Tuesday and
Thursday in the Commons — this is «called Prime Minister's
Question Time. Everyone wants to know what has been decided
behind the closed doors of the Cabinet Room.
Questions: 1. Which party forms the government? 2. Who becomes Prime Minister? 3. Why are Prime Ministers powerful? 4. Where does the Cabinet meet? 5. What did Margaret Thatcher try to do? 6. Why was Margaret Thatcher forced to resign? 7. Whose questions must Cabinet ministers answer? 8. What does everyone want to know? очень полным ответом
2) When the second group of tourists (arrived) in London, the first group (had already left).
3) They (went) home after the film (had finished).
4) She (told) us about the places she (had seen) while she was travelling in England.
5) The children (went) to the skating rink as soon as they (had returned) from the museum.
6) Mike (had played) ten games by the end of the season.
7) Sue (liked) the new game though she had never (played) it before.
8) By the end of the Olympic Games the national team (had won) 12 medals.
1) The policeman asked the men what they were doing.
2) She asked how his brother was.
3) The woman asked me what I wanted.
4) Nick asked why I was carrying a camera.
5) An officer asked the girl what her name was.
6) I asked the doctor how many times a day I should take the medicine.
7) He asked a cinema attendant what time the film finished.
8) The old man asked how much the artist would pay him.
9) Pedro asked Olaf how much longer he was staying in England.
10) Grandma asked me where the cup of tea was.
11) Olaf asked the girls where they were going for their holidays.
12) My father asked when I would get back.
13) Andrew asked a shop-keeper how much that bicycle was.
14) The man asked when his watch would be repaired.
15) They asked him what time he had got home.