plemented in 1801 adopting
the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the
Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six
northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as
Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927

National holiday: Celebration of the Birthday of the Queen (second
Saturday in June)

Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and
practice

Legal system: common law tradition with early Roman and modern
continental influences; no judicial review of Acts of Parliament;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); Heir
Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)
head of government: Prime Minister Tony BLAIR (since 2 May 1997)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections: none; the queen is a hereditary monarch; prime minister is
the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons and must have
the consent of the monarch

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of House of Lords
(1,200 seats; four-fifths of the members are hereditary peers, two
archbishops, 24 other senior bishops, serving and retired Lords of
Appeal in Ordinary, other life peers, Scottish peers) and House of
Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve
five-year terms)
elections: House of Lords-no elections; House of Commons-last held 1
May 1997 (next to be held by NA May 2002)
election results: House of Commons-percent of vote by party-Labor
44.5%, Conservative 31%, Liberal Democratic 17%, other 7.5%; seats by
party-Labor 418, Conservative 165, Liberal Democratic 46, other 30

Judicial branch: House of Lords, several Lords of Appeal in Ordinary
are appointed by the monarch for life

Political parties and leaders: Conservative and Unionist Party
[William HAGUE]; Labor Party [Anthony (Tony) Blair]; Liberal Democrats
or LD [Jeremy (Paddy) ASHDOWN]; Scottish National Party [Alex
SALMOND]; Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) [Dafydd Iwan WIGLEY];
Ulster Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [David TRIMBLE]; Democratic
Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [Rev. Ian PAISLEY]; Social
Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP (Northern Ireland) [John HUME];
Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland) [Gerry A