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are women. The party, which wins the most seats, forms the Government
and its leader becomes Prime Minister.
The House is presided over by the Speaker who is appointed by the
Government after consultation with the leader of the Opposition. All the
members of the House of Commons are paid salary.
The House of Lords consists of the Lords Temporal and the Lords
Spiritual.
The Lords Spiritual are the Archbishops of York and Canterbury,
together with 24 senior bishops of England.
The Lords Temporal consist of:
- hereditary peers, who have inherited their titles;
- life peers who are appointed by the Queen on the advice of the
Government for various services to the nation;
- the Lords of Appeal (Law Lords) who become life peers on their
judicial appointments. The latter serve the House of Lords as the ultimate
court of appeal. This appeal court consists of nine law lords who hold
senior judicial office. They are presided by the Lord Chancellor and they
form a quorum of 3 or 5 when they hear appeal cases.
The House of Lords has no real power but acts rather as an advisory
council for the House of Commons.
The person who presides over the Lords deliberations is the Lord
Chancellor. He is one of the principal officers of State, and is nowadays a
distinguished lawyer. His office is very different from that of Speaker. The
Speaker does not speak in the House, but is so named because he speaks
on behalf of the Commons to the Sovereign. He renounces party politics
on his election, and acts as impartial chairman. He does not change with
the Government, but is reelected each Parliament. He controls the
member's parliamentary behaviour, and this function contrasts with the
power of the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor is active in party
politics, being one of the chief spokesmen for the Government. He has no
authority to speak on behalf of the whole House and has no power of
discipline.
A new session of Parliament opens every year. The duration of
Parliament is five years. In practice it ends sooner. Parliament's life is
ended by the Sovereign who dissolves it. It is a constitutional convention
that the Queen dissolves Parliament only at the request of the Prime
Minister. The Queen issues a Proclamation to bring into being a new

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