Her Majesty's Government

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A logo of Her Majesty's Government.

United Kingdom
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United Kingdom

Government Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II The Crown The Privy Council Cabinet Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP Chancellor Alistair Darling MP Foreign Secretary David Miliband MP Home Secretary Jacqui Smith MP Justice Secretary Jack Straw MP Full list of members Parliament State Opening of Parliament House of Lords Lord Speaker Baroness Hayman House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin MP Leader Harriet Harman MP Prime Minister's Questions Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition Leader David Cameron MP Shadow Cabinet Judiciary Courts of the United Kingdom Courts of England and Wales Courts of Northern Ireland Courts of Scotland Constitution Human rights Constituent countries Politics of Scotland Scottish Government Scottish Parliament Politics of Wales Welsh Assembly Government National Assembly for Wales Politics of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Executive Northern Ireland Assembly Politics of England English Regional Assemblies Greater London Authority Reserved matters Elections Parliament constituencies Political parties Last election Next election Foreign Policy Foreign relations Politics of the European Union
Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal view • talk • edit

Her Majesty's Government, or when the monarch is male, His Majesty's Government, is the title used by the Government of the United Kingdom, based at 10 Downing Street; and formerly also by the governments of other Commonwealth realms.

The title is used because in UK constitutional law, executive authority is vested in the monarch and exercised through the ministers. In effect, the government is an executive authority consisting of the monarch's ministers. In Commonwealth usage, the term government does not relate to parliament or the courts, but only to the executive branch.

In international contexts, where it is necessary to avoid confusion with the governments of other Commonwealth realms, the terms Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom or Her Britannic Majesty's Government are used.

1 History of the term
2 Usage
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History of the term

In the British Empire, the term "His Majesty's Government" was originally only used by the Imperial Government in London. With the development of the Commonwealth, the self-governing Dominions came to be seen as realms of the Sovereign equal in status to the United Kingdom, and from the 1920s and 1930s the form "His Majesty's Government in ..." began to be used by United Kingdom and Dominion governments. Colonial, state and provincial governments, on the other hand, continued to use the lesser title "Government of ...". There was also His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State.

Today, however, most Commonwealth Realm governments have now reverted to the form "Government of ...", and it is today mainly in the United Kingdom that the titles "Her Majesty's Government", "Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom" or "Her Britannic Majesty's Government," the last in dealings with foreign states and on British passports, can be found in official use. Although very uncommon today in other Commonwealth Realms, this usage is not incorrect; in a 1989 Canadian Supreme Court decision, one of the Justices referred to "Her Majesty's Government for the Province of Nova Scotia" [1].

[edit] Usage

The abbreviation HMG is often used by members of the government and their advisers as a convenient short label to describe members of the Cabinet and the senior civil servants or mandarins in departments of the United Kingdom Government. The term comes from the formal constitutional position that ministers govern the state by advising the Crown through the Privy Council.

Individual governments (also known historically as ministries) may also be identified by reference to the Prime Minister who leads them (e.g. the Attlee government, or Gladstone's second ministry).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2006)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

[edit] External links

Official website of 10 Downing Street
Directgov, the UK government public services website, produced by the Central Office of Information
- DirectGov - Guide To Government
Her Majesty's Government, a directory compiled by the House of Commons Information Office

v • d • e British-Irish Council (Council of the Isles)
Belfast Agreement
Member bodies	Council of Ministers of Jersey • Her Majesty's Government • Irish Government • Isle of Man Government • Northern Ireland Executive • Policy Council of Guernsey • Scottish Government • Welsh Assembly Government
Member jurisdictions	Guernsey • Isle of Man • Jersey • Northern Ireland • Ireland • Scotland • United Kingdom • Wales
Work areas	Demography • eHealth • Environment • Indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages • Knowledge economy • Misuse of drugs • Social inclusion • Tourism • Transport