•Warm-Up
•British Parliament- Lecture
•Web Walk
•Homework Check
Work
alone for
4
minutes
The British Houses of Parliament

The Westminster
system of
government
Roles of the British
Parliament
Form
the government
Examine and check the government
Debate and pass laws

The Upper House: The House of Lords

The Lower House: The House of Commons
The House of
Lords
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In the 19th century
the House of
Lords
represented the
aristocracy and
the Church
It is the Upper
House
The House of
Commons

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Members of
Parliament (MPs)
are elected to
represent a region
or district
The party with the
majority of MPs
forms government
It is the Lower
House
•The House of Commons was the _________house.
•How were the members of the lower house chosen?
•Who are the aristocracy?
•Which house was controlled by the aristocracy and
the church?
•What are the roles of the British Parliament?
What does the Monarch do?

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The1689 Bill of Rights
restricted the role of the King
The King or Queen can only
advise or warn the
government
Head of State – he/she
represents Britain on
important occasions
Law-making



The Houses of Parliament are a
legislature
A bill (proposed law) must be passed by a
majority vote in both Houses to become law
Once the monarch signs this law, it
becomes an Act of Parliament

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Before 1831 Only male
land and property
owners
Only 3% could vote
No MP represented
boom cities Birmingham
or Manchester
The Reform Act (1832)
extended the vote
(franchise) to 14%

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More reform
Faster industrialization
Many had their own businesses
After the 1832 Reform Bill was passed they
became the Liberal Party
Their supporters – urban middle class and
mill owners
The Whigs, continued

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More power for Parliament
Less power for the King
Lower taxes
More free trade
Most wanted to extend the vote to the
middle class
“laissez faire” economics
Celebrity Whigs/Liberals
William
Gladstone PM
1868-74 “The
Grand Old Man”

Richard Cobden,
manufacturer and radical
peace activist

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Supported the monarchy
Strong links with the Church of England
Loved tradition and life in the countryside
Many had titles and lived on country estates
Feared rapid change would lead to revolution
After 1832 was called the Conservative Party
The Tory view of the French
Revolution

If you give
too much
power to
the
masses
there will
be chaos
and horror
Tories and the Industrial
Revolution

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Distrusted “new money” – businessmen
Worried that big cities led to crime and sin
Wanted to preserve the old class system
But – one group of Radical Tories believed
the aristocracy should help the poor
“noblesse oblige”
Christian ethics: “from those to whom much
has been given, much will be required”
Michael Sadler: radical Tory

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“The parents rouse them in the morning
and receive them tired and exhausted
after the day has closed; they see them
droop and sicken, and, in many cases,
become cripples and die, before they
reach their prime; and they do all this,
because they must otherwise starve. It is
a mockery to contend that these parents
have a choice. They choose the lesser
evil, and reluctantly resign their offspring
to the captivity and pollution of the mill.”
Speech to House of Commons 1832
Earl of Shaftesbury
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Supported Michael Sadler’s campaign for
factory reform
Factory Act 1833
Campaigned against child labour
Shaftesbury’s 1842 report into
child labour in the coal mines
Radical Tory
Benjamin Disraeli PM 1874-78

“Two nations between whom there is
no intercourse and no sympathy; who
are as ignorant of each other's habits,
thoughts, and feelings, as if they
were dwellers in different zones, or
inhabitants of different planets. The
rich and the poor. “
Disraeli’s novel “Sybil”
Queen Victoria loved him…

He made her Empress
of India!
Celebrity Tories
Margaret
Thatcher PM
1979-90

William Wilberforce
helped ban slavery
Famous Conservative PM

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Winston Spencer
Churchill
World War II PM
1940-45