Ask a group of sensible adults how Britain is governed and you will often hear a muddle of terms – Parliament, government, Crown, Westminster, MPs, peers, ministers. The confusion is understandable. British democracy explained simply means stripping away ceremony and habit and looking at who actually holds power, how they get it, and how they can lose it.
British Politics and Democracy
Articles examining British democracy, political representation, Parliament, party discipline, institutional power and the relationship between voters and government.
The House of Managed Democracy – A Review received today (11/06/2026)
This review of The House of Managed Democracy considers Gerald Bratley’s examination of the gap between how British democracy is described and how it is experienced by voters. That was the first thing that grabbed me about the book. On the surface, The House of Managed Democracy is a structured, research-driven examination of the United … Read more
EU Membership: A View from a Working Lifetime
The relationship between UK EU membership and international trade is best understood against the changes experienced by British exporters over several decades. My working life spans the period before Britain joined the European Economic Community, through our years of membership, and into the present day. In the 1960s Britain still lived largely in the world … Read more