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This article lists successive British governments, also referred to as ministries, from the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707, continuing through the duration of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1922, and since then dealing with those of the present-day United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
For general overviews of British politics since 1945, see: Post-war Britain (1945–1979) Political history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) While coverage of British social history over the same period can be found below: Social history of post-war Britain (1945–1979) Social history of the United Kingdom (1979–present)
In 1984 the British government signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with China and agreed to turn over Hong Kong and its dependencies in 1997. British rule ended on 30 June 1997, with China taking over at midnight, 1 July 1997 (at end of the 99-year lease over the New Territories , along with the ceded Hong Kong Island and Kowloon ).
The British political system is a multiple-party system [1] and was according to the V-Dem Democracy Indices 2023 the 22nd most electorally democratic in the world. [2] From the 1920s to date, the two dominant parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labour Party.
Over 50% of the world's borders today were drawn as a result of British and French imperialism. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] An unambiguous measure is the date of national constitutions ; but as constitutions are an almost entirely modern concept, all formation dates by that criterion are modern or early modern (the oldest extant constitution being that ...
War ministry, the British government during the Second World War Chamberlain war ministry, the British government under Neville Chamberlain (1939–1940) Churchill war ministry, the British government under Winston Churchill (1940–1945) Cameron–Clegg coalition, the British government under David Cameron and Nick Clegg (2010–2015)
The cumulative costs of fighting two world wars, however, placed a heavy burden upon the home economy, and after 1945 the British Empire rapidly began to disintegrate, with all the major colonies gaining independence. By the mid-to-late 1950s, the UK's status as a superpower was gone in the face of the United States and the Soviet Union.
The government of the United Kingdom, officially His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. [2] [3] The government is led by the prime minister (Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024) who selects all the other ministers.