I’m in London for a couple of days of research, and the political scene is quite different in Britain. For one thing Britain has had a change of government, from one party to another, only once in the last four years. The United States has had four changes of government at the presidential level during that time. But since the election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in May 1979, the only change in government here was the election of Tony Blair’s New Labour in May 1997.
Now almost everyone here expects that the next election will produce a victory for David Cameron’s (New?) Conservatives, who are far ahead in the polls. Under British law general elections must be held every five years; the last one was in May 2005. Usually a prime minister calls a general election after four years, unless his party is likely facing defeat; failure to do so, as in the cases of Gordon Brown this year or John Major in 1996, is taken as a confession of political weakness. It also causes a change in the operation of government; after a party has been in office four years, the leaders of the opposition party are entitled to briefings by career civil servants. And this is evidently going on apace, according to this column by Rachel Sylvester in today’s Times. Note the references to the Yes, Minister series.
I’ll have more to report anon.
