“The types of governments, political rule in the UK (detailed description of the systems, parliaments, voting systems and the Royal family etc. )"

Britain is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the monarch, at the moment Queen Elizabeth II, is the Head of State. The Queen is also head of the judiciary (all the judges) and of the Church of England, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

The most important function of the Queen is ceremonial. On great occasions, such as the State Opening of Parliament, she is driven through the streets in a golden carriage, guarder by soldiers. She gives a state banquet, usually in her home Buckingham Palace, when foreign monarchs or Heads of State visit Britain and soldiers dressed in XVIII century uniforms help her welcome them.
The Queen is head of the Commonwealth (a group of former and present-day British colonies). As head of the Commonwealth, she meets and entertains prime ministers of the member states.

The surname of the Royal family is Windsor. This might sound very British, but the Royal family’s ancestors were German. The present Queen’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria (1819-1910), was born in Britain, but her mother and her husband were both German. When Queen Victoria got married, she became a Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The British Royal family continued with this surname until the First World War (1914-1918) when King George V (1865-1936) decided to adopt the more English-sounding name of Windsor. In fact, Windsor is the name of one of their castles.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (now known as the Queen Mother) became very popular with the British people during the Second World War (1939-1945). They refused to leave London, even though their home Buckingham Palace was bombed. In 1952, Elizabeth II came to the throne. She has represented Britain in visits to most parts of the world.

The Queen’s constitutional role, however, is mainly symbolic. True power lies in the hands of the Parliament (the Prime Minister). The British Parliament has two houses, or chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is the most powerful and decides national policy, but the House of Lords can ask the House of Commons to rewrite certain parts of a bill before it becomes a new law.
The House of Commons consists of Members of Parliament, MPs. Each MP is elected by voters in one constituency (region). There are 651 MPs, or seats, in the House of Commons (524 for England, 72 for Scotland, 38 for Wales and 17 for Northern Ireland). In 1994, there were only 59 women MPs.
The 1203 members of the House of Lords are not elected. Some are life peers: they are members of the House of Lords, but their sons or daughters cannot be members. Life peers are usually former members of the House of Commons. There is also a number of judges’ o bishop. The majority (774), however, are hereditary peers, the heads of aristocratic families. This means that most members of the House of Lords are there because of something their ancestors did.

The party with most MPs forms the government. The leader of the winning party automatically becomes Prime Minister and appoints the Cabinet. The members of the Cabinet are the leading government ministers. The Prime Minister is the most important person in Parliament. The party who comes second is the Opposition and forms its own Shadow Cabinet.
British Prime Ministers have lived at 10 Downing Street since 1731. The Chancellor of the Exchequer (responsible for money and finance) lives next door at number 11. People often talk about „Downing Street” when they mean the Prime Minister and his or her Cabinet.
Every five years, British people over the age of 18 can vote in a general election. People vote for the candidate they want in their constituency (region). The candidate who wins becomes the MP in the House of Commons, even if he or she gets only one vote more than the candidate who is second. This is called the first past the post system.

The first past the post electoral system in Britain promotes the two most powerful parties at the expense of the smaller parties. Since the 1920s, the two main parties have been the left-wing Labour Party and the right-wing Conservative Party.
The Liberal Democrats, a centre party, are not happy with the current first past the post-electoral system. This is because it is a party, which does not win main seats in Parliament, but comes second in many constituencies. It would prefer a system of proportional representation, in which the number of MPs is based on the number of people who vote for a party in the whole of the country.