One of the most significant changes in the British House of Commons has been the development in 1979 of a system of select committees charged with monitoring government ministries. Unlike previous experiments in parliamentary reform, these committees are staffed exclusively with backbench MPs, who regularly review executive policies and offer recommendations. Michael Jogerst reappraises the relationship between the executive and legislative branches in light of these new circumstances, which are likely to affect the entire governmental structure of the United Kingdom.

Examines the debates and developments about House of Lords reform since 1911, and notes that disagreements have occurred within, as well as between, the main political parties and governments throughout this time. It draws attention to how various proposals for reform have raised a wider range constitutional and political problems.

Excerpt from Thoughts on Moderate Reform in the House of Commons To the Noble Lord who has thus taken the lead as the Champion of Constitutional and Moderate Reform, the country is already singularly indebted, for it is to his exertions we owe the memorable repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, which first opened the eyes of the Ministry to the possibility of Catholic Emancipation; and when he shall succeed in his present object, as I doubt not but eventually he will do, he will add another leaf to the Civic Crown which the applause of his countrymen has already bound around his brows. The proposal has been, however, for the present, rejected - by a small majority. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The notion of 'representative democracy' seems unquestionably familiar today, but how did the Victorians understand democracy, parliamentary representation, and diversity?