Her Majesty's Government
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Her Majesty's Government (HMG or HM Government), or when the monarch is male, His Majesty's Government, is the formal title used by the Government of the United Kingdom, based at 10 Downing Street in London. The title is used because in the UK, executive authority is theoretically vested in the monarch and exercised through his or her ministers. In effect, the government is an executive authority consisting of the Sovereign's ministers. In Commonwealth usage, the term government does not relate to Parliament or the Courts but only to the executive branch.
Her Majesty's Government is headed by the Prime Minister and also includes the Cabinet and junior ministers.
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[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 '30s 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 acronym "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
- Cabinet of the United Kingdom
- Departments of the United Kingdom Government
- Directgov
- Her Majesty's Government Communication Centre
- Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council
- Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition
- State Opening of Parliament
- Northern Ireland Executive
- Scottish Government
- Welsh Assembly Government
[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 official website of the UK government, produced by the Central Office of Information
- Her Majesty's Government, a directory compiled by the House of Commons Information Office
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| 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 |
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it:Governo del Regno Unito he:ממשלת בריטניה no:Storbritannias regjering
