The System of Government

D Answer these questions.

1 Which of these people are not elected: a peer, an MP, a civil servant, the Prime Minister?

2 What is the difference between life peers and hereditary peers, Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual?

3 What are civil servants?

4 Which areas of government do these people deal with: the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor?

5 Find two examples of executive organizations outside central government.

E Complete the following text with the words and expressions from the box.

The House of Commons

	Cabinet benches Foreign Secretary backbenchers Budget Shadow Cabinet Prime Minister Speaker Home Secretary ministers front bench Leader of the Opposition debates Opposition Chancellor of the Exchequer

This is the House of Commons, where Members of Parliament take their seats on the green leather 1) _____ according to their party and position. One of them is chosen to be the 2) _____, who acts as a kind of chairman of the 3) _____ which take place in the House. In front of him on his right sit the MPs of the biggest party, which forms the government, and facing them sit the MPs of the parties who oppose them, the 4) _____.

The leaders of these two groups sit at the front on each side. MPs without
special positions in their parties sit behind their leaders at the back. They are
called 5) _____. The leader of the government, the 6) _____, sits on the government 7) _____, of course, next to his or her 8) _____.

The most important of these form the 9) _____. The minister responsible for relations with other countries is called the 10) _____. The one responsible for law and security is called the 11) _____. The one who deals with financial matters and prepares the annual 12) _____ speech on the economic state of the country is called the 13) _____. Opposite this group sits the 14) _____ (the main person in the largest party opposing the government) and the 15) _____, each member of which specializes in a particular area of government.

Over to you

1 Translate the text into Russian. Discuss it in class.

2 Add your own point of view on the skills the MPs must have.

3 Compare this information with the work of the Russian Parliament.

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