title: Francesco Totti

text: On 11 January 2015, Totti scored two goals against local rivals Lazio, making him the joint all-time top scorer in the Rome Derby in official club competitions, alongside Dino Da Costa, with 11 goals, as well as the Serie A top scorer in the Rome Derby. On 9 May, Totti scored from a penalty in a 2–1 away defeat to Milan, equalling Roberto Baggio for the record of the most goals scored in Serie A from penalties (68). On 31 May, in the final match-day of the 2014–15 season, he scored his 299th goal for Roma in a 2–1 home defeat to Palermo. Totti finished the season as Roma's leading scorer with ten goals in all competitions, the seventh time in which he had been the team's top scorer.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On his second league appearance of the 2015–16 Serie A season, Totti scored his 300th career club goal in all competitions with Roma in a 2–2 home draw with Sassuolo, on 20 September 2015. On 26 September 2015, the day before his 39th birthday, he sustained an injury, straining his right hip flexor in a 5–1 win over Carpi, ruling him out for three months. He returned to the pitch as a substitute in a 1–1 home draw against Milan, on 9 January 2016, equalling Gianluca Pagliuca as the third all-time highest appearance holder in Serie A history, with 592 appearances.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 21 February 2016, Totti publicly criticised returning manager – and Rudi Garcia's replacement – Luciano Spalletti in the media for his lack of playing time since his return from injury. He was subsequently dropped for Roma's 5–0 win over Palermo, with the decision causing an uproar among the fans and in the media, while rumours once again began to circulate that Totti would be leaving the club once his contract had expired at the end of the season, as a result of his limited appearances and clashes with Spalletti. On 8 March, Totti came on as a substitute for Stephan El Shaarawy in the return leg of the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid, and was given a standing ovation by the fans at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid; Roma lost the match 2–0, however, and were eliminated from the competition following a 4–0 aggregate loss. On 20 April, he came off the bench in the 86th minute, one goal down to Torino at home to rescue the team with a brace; one in the 87th minute and a penalty in the 89th minute to win the match 3–2. With his 69th goal in Serie A from the penalty spot, he overtook Roberto Baggio as the outright top scorer of penalties in Serie A history. Totti's double also made him the oldest player in Serie A history to score two goals in a single league match, at the age of 39 years, 6 months and 23 days, breaking Silvio Piola's previous record of 39 years, 4 months and 2 days, which he had managed with Novara on 1 February 1953, after scoring a brace against his former team Lazio.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 2 May, Totti came off the bench and scored from a free kick to help Roma to come from behind and achieve a 3–2 away win over Genoa; this was his 21st goal from a free kick in Serie A, which put him alongside Baggio as the joint all-time fourth-highest scorer of free kicks in Serie A history, behind only Alessandro Del Piero, Andrea Pirlo, and Siniša Mihajlović. Totti came off the bench in each of the past five Serie A games and contributed four goals and an assist. On 8 May, Totti came off the bench to set up Roma's final goal in a 3–0 home win over Chievo in his 600th Serie A appearance, becoming the third player ever to reach this milestone. Overall, Totti only made 13 league appearances throughout the season but scored four goals in the final six matches as a substitute. On 7 June, he renewed his contract for another year, stating that he would be retiring at the end of the 2016–17 season; he also revealed he had signed a six-year contract as Roma's technical director once the season ends.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On his first appearance of the 2016–17 season against Sampdoria on 11 September, Totti equalled Paolo Maldini's record of playing in 25 Serie A seasons. With Roma trailing 2–1 at half time, Totti came off the bench and assisted Edin Džeko's temporary equaliser, later also scoring the match-winning goal from a penalty in injury time to secure a 3–2 home win in Serie A; Totti's goal meant that he had managed to score at least once in each of the past 23 consecutive seasons of his career. On 25 September, he scored his 250th Serie A goal from the penalty spot in a 3–1 away defeat to Torino, just two days before his 40th birthday. On his first start two days after his 40th birthday, on 29 September, Totti was praised for his performance and longevity in a 4–0 home win over Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League; he played all 90 minutes of the match, providing two assists, while also being involved in a third goal. On 20 October, Totti made his 100th appearance in UEFA club competitions, setting up two goals in a 3–3 home draw against Austria Wien in the Europa League. In late October, he sustained a muscle injury to the flexor of his left thigh during a training session, which ruled him out indefinitely. He returned to action as a substitute in a 3–2 home win over Pescara on 27 November.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 1 February 2017, Totti scored a decisive injury-time penalty in the 97th minute of a 2–1 home victory against Cesena in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals; the win enabled Roma to advance to the semi-finals of the tournament. On 15 April, he came on as a substitute in a 1–1 home draw against Atalanta to make his 615th appearance in Serie A, equalling Javier Zanetti as the joint third highest appearance holder of all time in Serie A.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 28 May, Totti made his final appearance for Roma in a 3–2 home win against Genoa, coming on as a substitute for Mohamed Salah in the 54th minute and received a standing ovation from the fans.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti first came into international prominence while playing in FIFA and UEFA youth tournaments. With the Italy under-16 side, under manager Sergio Vatta, Totti reached the final of the 1993 UEFA European Under-16 Championship in Turkey; Italy were defeated 1–0 by Poland as Totti missed the final due to suspension. Four months later, Totti played in 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Japan and scored Italy's goal in the tournament as the "Azzurrini" were eliminated in group stage. Totti also scored in Italy's 4–1 defeat to Spain in the final of the UEFA Under-18 Championship, in July 1995. He subsequently won the UEFA Under-21 Championship with Italy in 1996, under manager Cesare Maldini; in the final, he opened the scoring as the match ended in a 1–1 draw against Spain, although Italy were able to win the final on penalties. The following year, he also played a key role in helping Italy to win a gold medal at the 1997 Mediterranean Games, on home soil, scoring twice throughout the tournament. Due to his contribution in these tournaments, Totti was later included in the all-time Under-21 EURO dream team in 2015.


title: Francesco Totti

text: After starring with the "Azzurrini" in Italy's under-16, under-19, and under-21 sides, Totti earned his first senior cap for Italy under the recently appointed international manager Dino Zoff during a 2–0 Euro 2000 qualifying victory against Switzerland on 10 October 1998. Totti scored his first goal for Italy on 26 April 2000 in a 2–0 friendly win over Portugal in Reggio Calabria. He scored his first brace for Italy in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match in a 4–3 home win over Belarus, on 13 October 2004. In total, Totti made 58 appearances for Italy between 1998 and 2006, scoring nine goals and making 24 assists.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Italy went to Euro 2000 with Totti in excellent form. Overall, he scored two goals and provided an assist during the tournament. His first goal of the tournament came against co-host nation Belgium in the first round, as Totti headed in Demetrio Albertini's cross from a set-piece; he was named man of the match for his performance. His second goal of the tournament came against Romania in the quarter-finals, with an accurate strike following Stefano Fiore's assist. In Italy's semi-final shootout victory over co-hosts the Netherlands, Totti's confidently chipped penalty was named as one of the "magic moments" of the tournament. A few moments before taking the penalty, Totti whispered the famous sentence "Mo je faccio er Cucchiaio" (Roman dialect for "Now I'm scoring with a Panenka") to his teammate and friend Luigi Di Biagio.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Though Italy lost to reigning World Cup Champions France 2–1 in extra time in the final, Totti was named the man of the match, and he started the play which led to Marco Delvecchio's opening goal; Totti sent an unmarked Gianluca Pessotto down the right wing with a back-heel pass, allowing him space to cross the ball into the area, where it was put into the net by Delvecchio. Later, during the second half of the match, Totti provided two scoring opportunities for Alessandro Del Piero, which the Juventus forward was unable to convert. Totti was selected for the 22-man Team of the Tournament due to his performances throughout the European Championship.


title: Francesco Totti

text: After being handed the number 10 shirt and Italy's playmaking duties, much was expected of Totti in his debut World Cup under manager Giovanni Trapattoni. Despite a promising start at the 2002 World Cup held in Japan and Korea, as he set-up Christian Vieri's first goal in Italy's 2–0 opening win over Ecuador, disappointment followed, with Totti failing to score or make a significant impact throughout the tournament. Despite helping to set up Vieri's goal in a disappointing and controversial 2–1 defeat to Croatia in Italy's second group match, his lacklustre performances throughout the tournament were later criticised by the Italian media, in particular his failure to capitalise on several scoring chances in Italy's 1–1 draw against Mexico in their final group match, as Italy only narrowly qualified for the knockout stage.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Despite setting up Vieri's goal in Italy's second round defeat to co-hosts South Korea from a corner, his performance was once again criticised, in particular as he was sent off in extra time after being handed a controversial second yellow card by referee Byron Moreno for simulation.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Although he was once again expected to be Italy's star player in the number 10 role, Totti acquired a measure of infamy at Euro 2004 after he spat at Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen in a goalless draw in Italy's opening group match of the tournament on 14 June 2004. He was subsequently banned until the semi-finals, but never made it back to action and finished the competition scoreless due to Italy's elimination in the first round on direct encounters, following a three-way five point tie with Sweden and Denmark.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Despite injury troubles, Totti recovered in time to join the national team for their victorious 2006 World Cup campaign, despite a lack of match practice during his three months on the sidelines. Italy manager Marcello Lippi showed enormous faith in Totti, assuring him during his rehabilitation that his spot in Italy's World Cup squad was secure and to focus on recuperating. This encouragement and show of faith fueled Totti's desire to work even harder to overcome what could have been a career-ending injury and make it to the World Cup against all odds (and much of the Italian media's opinion).


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti did recuperate in time and was eventually named to Lippi's final 23-man squad for the 2006 World Cup. Despite initial concerns over his match fitness, Totti was an important player in Marcello Lippi's team, and played in all seven games for Italy, including the victorious final against France, which Italy won on penalties, although he was substituted off in the 61st minute. He played the entire time in Germany with metal plates and screws in his ankle that had yet to be removed following the surgery. Throughout the tournament, he usually played as an attacking midfielder, in front of deep-lying playmaker Andrea Pirlo, and behind strikers Luca Toni, Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta, or Filippo Inzaghi; these players were supported defensively by Gennaro Gattuso, Simone Perrotta and Daniele De Rossi in midfield. Totti finished the tournament with the joint-highest number of assists, along with Juan Román Riquelme (4). Totti set up Pirlo's goal from a short corner in Italy's opening 2–0 win against Ghana, Marco Materazzi's goal from a corner in Italy's final group match, a 2–0 win against the Czech Republic, and two goals in a 3–0 win against Ukraine in the quarter-finals: the opener by Gianluca Zambrotta, and one of Luca Toni's goals. Totti also scored a goal via an injury-time penalty in Italy's 1–0 round of 16 win over Australia on 26 June, and was involved in Del Piero's last-minute extra-time goal in the semi-final, which sealed a 2–0 victory for the Italians over hosts Germany, and a place in the World Cup final. Throughout the competition, Totti completed 185 passes and took 19 shots; in recognition of a successful tournament, he was selected for the 23-man All-Star Team.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti intended to retire from international football after the 2006 World Cup, but reneged on his decision and remained undecided on his future for over a year, not being called up in the meantime. He made his retirement official on 20 July 2007, at the beginning of the 2007–08 Serie A season, due to recurring physical problems and in order to focus solely on club play with Roma. Italy's coach at the time, Roberto Donadoni, attempted to get Totti to change his mind for the remaining Euro 2008 qualifiers but was not successful.


title: Francesco Totti

text: After Marcello Lippi's reappointment as the national team's manager following Euro 2008, Totti announced that he would play in the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa if he were to receive a call-up; however, there was no official statement release from Totti or Lippi about a possible comeback. For the final tournament, Totti was not named in the 23-man squad, and Italy was subsequently eliminated, failing to win a match and finishing last in their group, their worst-ever World Cup performance. Diego Maradona and former national teammates Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon said one of the reasons for Italy's early exit was due to the lack of creative players like Totti in the team.


title: Francesco Totti

text: In March 2013, Lippi's successor as Italy's coach, Cesare Prandelli, stated that he would consider Totti for the 2014 World Cup squad. In October 2013, Prandelli said, "Totti is in fantastic form. His condition right now does make you reflect. If the World Cup was around the corner, I would have no doubts and would absolutely call him up. But we will evaluate the player's condition one month prior to the World Cup." However, at the time of the choice of the final 23-man Italian squad for the World Cup, the Italy coach excluded the Roma striker, preferring to focus the team around younger players. Some in the media criticised the decision, such as former Brazilian international footballer Cafu, who had been Totti's teammate at Roma, who revealed that he would have liked to see Totti competing for Italy at the World Cup in Brazil, and that he preferred the Roma captain over Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Without Totti, Italy was eliminated in the first round for the second consecutive time, finishing third in their group.


title: Francesco Totti

text: In May 2016, several injuries in the Italian squad, as well as a lack of attacking options and Totti's run of good form as a substitute for Roma, led some in the media to call for manager Antonio Conte to include Totti as a reserve in Italy's Euro 2016 squad; however, he was later left out of Conte's 30-man preliminary Italy squad for the final tournament.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Often referred to as "Er Bimbo de Oro" (The Golden Boy), "L'Ottavo Re di Roma" (The Eighth King of Rome), "Er Pupone" (The Big Baby), "Il Capitano" (The Captain), and "Il Gladiatore" (The Gladiator) by the Italian sports media, Totti is considered to be one of the greatest Italian players of all time, one of the best players of his generation, and Roma's greatest ever player. Totti is also regarded by some as Italy's greatest player ever. Throughout his career, he played predominantly as a classic number 10, functioning either as an offensive-midfield playmaker or as a supporting or deep-lying forward behind the main striker; only in the later years of his Roma career was he mainly employed as a lone striker. An elegant, world-class, and technically gifted attacking midfielder with a good knowledge of the game, Totti was a tactically versatile player, capable of playing anywhere along the front line, and was also occasionally deployed as a winger or as a central midfielder under Zdeněk Zeman, and most notably as a false 9 under Luciano Spalletti and Rudi Garcia. Under Luis Enrique, he was also occasionally fielded in a more withdrawn creative role in midfield, functioning as a deep-lying playmaker.


title: Francesco Totti

text: While Totti was a prolific goalscorer, he was also renowned for his ball control, vision, creativity, and range of passing, as well as his ability to set the pace in midfield and provide through-balls and assists for his teammates, often through his trademark use of the no-look pass or backheel, in particular when holding up the ball or playing with his back to goal. Throughout his career, Totti drew particular praise from pundits for his excellent vision, technique, and precise long passing ability, which allowed him to play the ball first-time. Due to his movement and range of skills, his role has at times been described as that of a hardworking, unselfish and dynamic centre-forward, known as a "centravanti di manovra" in Italian (which literally translates to "manoeuvring centre-forward"). Known for his work rate, longevity, and willingness to contribute defensively, Totti underwent an athletic development during his time under Zeman: he undertook a muscle-strengthening programme to adapt to the rhythms of 21st-century football, gaining physical strength, stamina, fitness and shooting power to the detriment of some of his speed and agility, which also enabled him to maintain a consistent level of performance in his later career.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Throughout his career, Totti utilised his balance, dribbling skills, and acceleration in order to get past opponents; despite being naturally right-footed, he possessed a powerful and accurate shot from both inside and outside the area with either foot, and was also an accurate penalty kick and free kick taker, who was capable of striking the ball either with power or swerve from set pieces. Totti also scored several goals from chipped shots throughout his career, and often used the technique on penalties, which was also known as the "cucchiaio" technique (or "spoon" in Italian); one of the most famous instances in which Totti performed this type of penalty was in the victorious shootout of Italy's Euro 2000 semi-final match against the Netherlands. One of his most famous lobbed goals, in which he dribbled past Inter's Marco Materazzi before chipping the ball over goalkeeper Júlio César, was later named the best goal in Serie A of the 2005–06 season. He scored another notable goal using this technique against Lazio in the 2002 "Derby della Capitale", which ended in a 5–1 win for Roma. The title of Totti's 2006 autobiography "Tutto Totti": "Mo je faccio er cucchiaio" (: "I'm gonna chip him now") referenced this technique, as well as the statement made to his Italy teammates before his memorable Euro 2000 semi-final shootout penalty against the Netherlands. Having served as Roma's captain for several years, Totti was praised for his leadership.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Despite his talent and ability, however, Totti drew criticism at times for his character and lack of discipline on the pitch, which occasionally caused him to commit bad fouls and receive unnecessary bookings; with eleven red cards, he has the joint-sixth highest number of sending offs in Serie A history.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti was known for his exuberant and humorous goal celebrations. One of his famous celebrations took place on 11 April 1999 in the second "Derby della Capitale" of the 1998–99 season, in which he scored during the final minutes of the game and celebrated by flashing a T-shirt under his jersey, which read ""Vi ho purgato ancora"" ("I've purged you guys again"), in reference to events at the previous derby against Lazio on 29 November 1998 when Totti helped Roma come back from 3–1 down with an assist to Eusebio Di Francesco for 3–2 and finally a goal of his own for 3–3. Another derby goal against Lazio saw him take over a sideline camera and aim it at the Roma fans.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti has displayed numerous T-shirts with messages on them from under his jersey over the years, including two for his wife; ""6 Unica"" ("You're One of a kind") and ""6 Sempre Unica"" ("You're Still the One"), and a political one ""Liberate Giuliana"" ("Free Giuliana") in honor of Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist kidnapped in 2005 by insurgents in Iraq who was later freed. The most recent message was ""Scusate il Ritardo"" ("Sorry for the delay") which he flashed on 8 January 2012 as an apology to fans for his goalscoring drought after scoring his first goal of the season versus Chievo.


title: Francesco Totti

text: As a tribute to his then-pregnant wife, Ilary Blasi, Totti imitated a childbirth scene by stuffing the ball under his shirt and lying on his back while his teammates extracted the ball. His current ritual of sucking his thumb after a goal began after his son was born and continued after the birth of his daughter. Blasi has revealed that Totti also sucks his thumb in dedication to her and not just for their children. On 11 January 2015, Totti scored twice against Lazio in the "Derby della Capitale" as Roma came back from 2–0 down; he then took a selfie with Roma fans.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 17 July 2017, Totti confirmed his retirement from professional football and announced that he had accepted an offer from his former team Roma to become a club director. On 18 September, Totti began studying for a course in order to obtain his UEFA B coaching licence. However, he withdrew from the course two weeks later, as he was unable to attend the course regularly due to his commitments as a director of Roma; his former teammate Simone Perrotta took his place.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 17 June 2019, he announced his resignations from his managerial role at AS Roma, in an hour-long press conference held at the Italian Olympic Committee headquarters where he publicly accused chairman James Pallotta and the management for not involving him enough into the club's decision making, up to the point of stating he would reconsider a comeback only under a different ownership. The events marked the end for his 30-year long formal association with the club.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti married Ilary Blasi, a former showgirl and a co-host of Italia 1's "Le Iene", on 19 June 2005 at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Their wedding was aired on television with the proceeds being donated to charity. They had their first child, Cristian, on 6 November 2005. Their second child, a daughter named Chanel, was born on 13 May 2007. The couple has often been referred to as the "Italian Beckhams" and their private lives are often speculated upon in Italian magazines and tabloids. On 10 March 2016, the couple had their third child, Isabel. On 11 July 2022, it was announced that Totti and Blasi had separated. Totti is a Roman Catholic.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti's brother Riccardo serves as his agent, and manages many of his brand and business interests, under the name Number Ten, including the Francesco Totti Academy, a football training school, and the Totti Soccer School, a football camp for children with disabilities. Totti also owns a motorcycle racing team called Totti Top Sport.


title: Francesco Totti

text: On 12 October 2020, Totti's father, Enzo, died at 76 years old due to COVID-19 amid its pandemic in Italy.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF in 2003, and an ambassador for the FIFA/SOS Children's Villages in January 2006. As a fundraiser for a children's charity, he published two best-selling, self-effacing joke books containing jokes the locals often told about him and his teammates. Some of the jokes were filmed in short sketches featuring himself with good friends and national teammates Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Christian Vieri, Antonio Cassano, Marco Delvecchio, Alessandro Nesta and former national team coach Giovanni Trapattoni in a short show called "La sai l'ultima di Totti". On 16 January 2008, he appeared as "PaperTotti" in the Disney comic series "Topolino". The proceeds of the subscriptions were given to charity. The Roma captain's official testimonial was a fund raising match between singers and celebrities played on 12 May 2008 to help raise money for the construction of the Campus Produttivo della Legalità e della Solidarietà (Productive Campus of Legality and Solidarity).


title: Francesco Totti

text: In 2009, Totti helped launch a new campaign promoting Football Adopting Abandoned Children, which came about in collaboration with the Friends of Children and the Association of Italian Players. In the project, he adopted a team of around 11 young Kenyans to play football in Nairobi, and then to coach them along the way. In 2015, Totti and several of his teammates took to the pitch for "Tennis with Stars" in the Foro Italico in Rome, an event to help disadvantaged children. Tennis players such as Novak Djokovic and Flavia Pennetta participated at the event. On 27 September 2016, Totti celebrated his 40th birthday live on his new Facebook page, at the Tor Crescenza castle in Rome.


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti recorded a video message for a comatose hospital patient who awoke from her coma when his voice was played; Totti visited the patient in the hospital in September 2020.


title: Francesco Totti

text: In 2002, Fiat principal executive Gianni Agnelli, a lifelong fan and ex-president of Juventus, chose Totti to publicize the launch of the new Stilo instead of a Juventus player. Having been signed to sportswear company Nike, Totti featured in Nike's "Secret Tournament" advertisement, directed by Terry Gilliam, in the buildup to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. He appeared alongside Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Luís Figo, Roberto Carlos and Hidetoshi Nakata, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament "referee".


title: Francesco Totti

text: Totti has featured in EA Sports' "FIFA" video game series; he starred on the cover of the Italian edition of "FIFA 2002". He also featured on the cover of "Pro Evolution Soccer 4" along with Thierry Henry and Italian referee Pierluigi Collina. Between 2005 and 2008, his sponsors changed to sportswear company Diadora and soft drink Pepsi Twist, with a commercial filmed in the camps of Trigoria by director Gabriele Muccino. Since May 2006, he has appeared in advertisements for telephone company Vodafone. In December 2006 Totti and his wife Ilary Blasi lent their voices to an Italian dubbing of an episode of the television series "The Simpsons" entitled "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play", in which Totti voiced Buck Mitchell.


title: Francesco Totti

text: In 2007, he appeared in the movie "L'allenatore nel Pallone 2" in the role of a defense attorney. Since 2008, he has participated several times in the television program "C'è posta per te", in the second series of the Italian drama "Cesaroni", in the reality show "Grande Fratello 8" and in an episode of "Paperissima". In September 2008, a collection of figurines dedicated to him appeared in newsstands in the Lazio region entitled "Francesco Totti, the captain". In 2009, Totti sent a message of support to Iranian youths during the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests. In February 2010, Totti was named an ambassador for online poker company Party Poker.


title: Francesco Totti

text: In May 2010, Totti appeared alongside actor Russell Crowe in Rome to promote the special edition of the film "Gladiator", celebrating the tenth year of the film's release. In December 2014, two murals of Totti, sponsored by Nike, were created in Rome. In 2014, the Swiss artist David Diehl painted Totti as one of 16 football icons most beloved by their fans. In 2015, "France Football" rated him one of the ten best footballers in the world over the age of 36. In 2015, Totti's famous selfie goal celebration was included amongst the goal celebrations available for "FIFA 16" and "Pro Evolution Soccer 2016"; he also took a selfie in the official trailer of the video game on YouTube. On 1 August 2017, a rocket carrying Totti's number 10 shirt from his final game with Roma against Genoa was launched into space from French Guiana.


title: Francesco Totti

text: In 2020 he was the subject of "My Name Is Francesco Totti (Mi chiamo Francesco Totti)", a documentary film by Alex Infascelli.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, is the head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the British government, on behalf of and by the consent of the monarch, and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh parliaments.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The British political system is a two party system. Since the 1920s, the two dominant parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Before the Labour Party rose in British politics, the Liberal Party was the other major political party, along with the Conservatives. While coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party, such as the Liberal Democrats, to deliver a working majority in Parliament. A Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government held office from 2010 until 2015, the first coalition since 1945. The coalition ended following parliamentary elections on 7 May 2015, in which the Conservative Party won an outright majority of seats, 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, while their coalition partners lost all but eight seats.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: With the partition of Ireland, Northern Ireland received home rule in 1920, though civil unrest meant direct rule was restored in 1972. Support for nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales led to proposals for devolution in the 1970s, though only in the 1990s did devolution happen. Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each possess a legislature and executive, with devolution in Northern Ireland being conditional on participation in certain all-Ireland institutions. The British government remains responsible for non-devolved matters and, in the case of Northern Ireland, co-operates with the government of the Republic of Ireland. Devolution of executive and legislative powers may have contributed to increased support for independence in the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. The principal Scottish pro-independence party, the Scottish National Party, became a minority government in 2007 and then went on to win an overall majority of MSPs at the 2011 Scottish parliament elections and forms the current Scottish Government administration. In a 2014 referendum on independence 44.7% of voters voted for independence versus 55.3% against. In Northern Ireland, Irish nationalist parties such as Sinn Féin advocate Irish reunification. In Wales Plaid Cymru support Welsh independence.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions, statutes and other elements. This system of government, known as the Westminster system, has been adopted by other countries, especially those that were formerly parts of the British Empire. The United Kingdom is also responsible for several dependencies, which fall into two categories: the Crown Dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, are strictly-speaking subject to the Crown (ie, the Monarch) but not part of the sovereign territory of the United Kingdom (though "de facto" British territory), and British Overseas Territories, as British colonies were re-designated in 1983, which are part of the sovereign territory of the United Kingdom, in most of which aspects of internal governance have been delegated to local governments, with each territory having its own First Minister, though the title used may differ, such as in the case of the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, though they remain subject to the Parliament of the United Kingdom (when "United Kingdom" is used to refer only to that part of the British Realm, or sovereign British territory, which is governed directly by the British Government, and not via local subsidiary governments, "United Kingdom" logically refers to a local government area, though the national government performs the role of local government within that area).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The British monarch, currently Charles III, is the Head of state of the United Kingdom. Though he takes little direct part in government, the Crown remains the fount in which ultimate executive power over government lies. These powers are known as royal prerogative and can be used for a vast amount of things, such as the issue or withdrawal of passports, to the dismissal of the prime minister or even the declaration of war. The powers are delegated from the monarch personally, in the name of the Crown, and can be handed to various ministers, or other officers of the Crown, and can purposely bypass the consent of Parliament.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The head of His Majesty's Government, the prime minister, also has weekly meetings with the sovereign, where he may express his feelings, warn, or advise the prime minister in the government's work.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: According to the uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch has the following powers:


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Executive power in the United Kingdom is exercised by the Sovereign, King Charles III, via His Majesty's Government and the devolved national authorities - the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of that House. In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister. If no party has an absolute majority, the leader of the largest party is given the first opportunity to form a coalition. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments. About twenty of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: As in some other parliamentary systems of government (especially those based upon the Westminster system), the executive (called "the government") is drawn from and is answerable to Parliament - a successful vote of no confidence will force the government either to resign or to seek a parliamentary dissolution and a general election. In practice, members of parliament of all major parties are strictly controlled by whips who try to ensure they vote according to party policy. If the government has a large majority, then they are very unlikely to lose enough votes to be unable to pass legislation.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Prime Minister, currently Rishi Sunak, is the most senior minister in the Cabinet. Their tenure begins when they are appointed by the monarch. The Prime Minister is responsible for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all other positions in His Majesty's government), and formulating government policy. The Prime Minister being the "de facto" leader of the UK, exercises executive functions that are nominally vested in the sovereign (by way of the Royal Prerogatives). Historically, the British monarch was the sole source of executive powers in the government. However, following the lead of the Hanoverian monarchs, an arrangement of a "Prime Minister" chairing and leading the Cabinet began to emerge. Over time, this arrangement became the effective executive branch of government, as it assumed the day-to-day functioning of the British government away from the sovereign.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Theoretically, the Prime Minister is "primus inter pares" (i.e., Latin for "first among equals") among their Cabinet colleagues. While the Prime Minister is the senior Cabinet Minister, they are theoretically bound to make executive decisions in a collective fashion with the other Cabinet ministers. The Cabinet, along with the PM, consists of Secretaries of State from the various government departments, the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord President of the Council, the President of the Board of Trade, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Ministers without portfolio. Cabinet meetings are typically held weekly, while Parliament is in session.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of ministries known mainly, though not exclusively as departments, e.g., Department for Education. These are politically led by a Government Minister who is often a Secretary of State and member of the Cabinet. The minister may also be supported by a number of junior ministers. In practice, several government departments and ministers have responsibilities that cover England alone, with devolved bodies having responsibility for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, (for example - the Department of Health), or responsibilities that mainly focus on England (such as the Department for Education).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Implementation of the Minister's decisions is carried out by a permanent politically neutral organisation known as the Civil Service. Its constitutional role is to support the Government of the day regardless of which political party is in power. Unlike some other democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government. Administrative management of the Department is led by a head civil servant known in most Departments as a Permanent Secretary. The majority of the civil service staff in fact work in executive agencies, which are separate operational organisations reporting to Departments of State.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: "Whitehall" is often used as a metonym for the central core of the Civil Service. This is because most Government Departments have headquarters in and around the former Royal Palace Whitehall.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Scottish Government is responsible for all issues that are not explicitly reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster, by the Scotland Act; including NHS Scotland, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport. It manages an annual budget of more than £25 billion. The government is led by the First Minister, assisted by various Ministers with individual portfolios and remits. The Scottish Parliament nominates a Member to be appointed as First Minister by the King. The First Minister then appoints their Ministers (now known as Cabinet Secretaries) and junior Ministers, subject to approval by the Parliament. The First Minister, the Ministers (but not junior ministers), the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General are the Members of the 'Scottish Executive', as set out in the Scotland Act 1998. They are collectively known as "the Scottish Ministers".


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Welsh Government and Senedd have more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland, although following the passing of the Government of Wales Act 2006 and the 2011 Welsh devolution referendum, the Senedd can now legislate in some areas through an Act of Senedd Cymru. The current First Minister of Wales is Mark Drakeford of Welsh Labour.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have powers closer to those already devolved to Scotland. The Northern Ireland Executive is led by a diarchy, most recently First Minister Paul Givan (Democratic Unionist Party) and deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill (Sinn Féin).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The British Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom (i.e., there is parliamentary sovereignty), and government is drawn from and answerable to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There are also devolved Scottish and Welsh parliaments and a devolved assembly in Northern Ireland, with varying degrees of legislative authority.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Countries of the United Kingdom are divided into parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population by the four Boundary Commissions. Each constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons at general elections and, if required, at by-elections. As of the 2010 general election there are 650 constituencies (there were 646 before that year's general election). At the 2017 general election, of the 650 MPs, all but one - Sylvia Hermon - were elected as representatives of a political party. However, as of the 2019 general election, there are currently 11 independent MPs, who have either chosen to leave their political party or have had the whip withdrawn.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In modern times, all prime ministers and leaders of the opposition have been drawn from the Commons, not the Lords. Alec Douglas-Home resigned from his peerages days after becoming prime minister in 1963, and the last prime minister before him from the Lords left in 1902 (the Marquess of Salisbury).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: One party usually has a majority in parliament, because of the use of the First Past the Post electoral system, which has been conducive in creating the current two party system. The monarch normally asks a person commissioned to form a government simply whether it can "survive" in the House of Commons, something which majority governments are expected to be able to do. In exceptional circumstances the monarch asks someone to 'form a government' "with a parliamentary minority" which in the event of no party having a majority requires the formation of a coalition government or 'confidence and supply' arrangement. This option is only ever taken at a time of national emergency, such as war-time. It was given in 1916 to Bonar Law, and when he declined, to David Lloyd George and in 1940 to Winston Churchill. A government is not formed by a vote of the House of Commons, it is a commission from the monarch. The House of Commons gets its first chance to indicate confidence in the new government when it votes on the Speech from the Throne (the legislative programme proposed by the new government).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The House of Lords was previously a largely hereditary aristocratic chamber, although including life peers, and Lords Spiritual. It is currently midway through extensive reforms, the most recent of these being enacted in the House of Lords Act 1999. The house consists of two very different types of member, the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. Lords Temporal include appointed members (life peers with no hereditary right for their descendants to sit in the house) and ninety-two remaining hereditary peers, elected from among, and by, the holders of titles which previously gave a seat in the House of Lords. The Lords Spiritual represent the established Church of England and number twenty-six: the Five Ancient Sees (Canterbury, York, London, Winchester and Durham), and the 21 next-most senior bishops. Secular organisations such as Humanists UK oppose bishops sitting in the House of Lords. The movement to end the Church of England's status as the official state religion of the United Kingdom is known as disestablishmentarianism. Alternatives include a secular state in which the state purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The House of Lords currently acts to review legislation initiated by the House of Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and can exercise a suspensive veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve it for twelve months. However, the use of vetoes is limited by convention and by the operation of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949: the Lords may not veto the "money bills" or major manifesto promises (see Salisbury convention). Persistent use of the veto can also be overturned by the Commons, under a provision of the Parliament Act 1911. Often governments will accept changes in legislation in order to avoid both the time delay, and the negative publicity of being seen to clash with the Lords. However the Lords still retain a full veto in acts which would extend the life of parliament beyond the 5-year term limit introduced by the Parliament Act 1911.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 outlined plans for a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to replace the role of the Law Lords.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom replaced the House of Lords as the final court of appeal on civil cases within the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Though the British parliament remains the sovereign parliament, Scotland and Wales have devolved parliaments and Northern Ireland has an assembly. Each can have its powers broadened, narrowed or changed by an act of the UK Parliament. Both the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd gained legislative power over some forms of taxation between 2012 and 2016. Their power over economic issues is significantly constrained by an act of parliament passed in 2020.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The UK is a unitary state with a devolved system of government. This contrasts with a federal system, in which sub-parliaments or state parliaments and assemblies have a clearly defined constitutional "right" to exist and a "right" to exercise certain constitutionally guaranteed and defined functions and cannot be unilaterally abolished by acts of the central parliament.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: All three devolved institutions are elected by proportional representation: the Additional Member System is used in Scotland and Wales, and Single Transferable Vote is used in Northern Ireland.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: England, therefore, is the only country in the UK not to have its own devolved parliament. However, senior politicians of all main parties have voiced concerns in regard to the West Lothian Question, which is raised where certain policies for England are set by MPs from all four constituent nations whereas similar policies for Scotland or Wales might be decided in the devolved assemblies by legislators from those countries alone. Alternative proposals for English regional government have stalled, following a poorly received referendum on devolved government for the North East of England, which had hitherto been considered the region most in favour of the idea, with the exception of Cornwall, where there is widespread support for a Cornish Assembly, including all five Cornish MPs. England is therefore governed according to the balance of parties across the whole of the United Kingdom.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The government has no plans to establish an English parliament or assembly although several pressure groups are calling for one. One of their main arguments is that MPs (and thus voters) from different parts of the UK have inconsistent powers. Currently an MP from Scotland can vote on legislation which affects only England but MPs from England (or indeed Scotland) cannot vote on matters devolved to the Scottish parliament. Indeed, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was an MP for a Scottish constituency until the 2015 general election, introduced some laws that only affect England and not his own constituency. This anomaly is known as the West Lothian question.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The policy of the British Government in England was to establish elected regional assemblies with no legislative powers. The London Assembly was the first of these, established in 2000, following a referendum in 1998, but further plans were abandoned following rejection of a proposal for an elected assembly in North East England in a referendum in 2004. Unelected regional assemblies remain in place in eight regions of England.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Scottish Parliament is the national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood" (cf. "Westminster"), is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members who are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament, or MSPs. Members are elected for four-year terms under the mixed member proportional representation system. As a result, 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality ("first past the post") system, with a further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The current Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998 and its first meeting as a devolved legislature was on 12 May 1999. The parliament has the power to pass laws and has limited tax-varying capability. Another of its roles is to hold the Scottish Government to account. The "devolved matters" over which it has responsibility include education, health, agriculture, and justice. A degree of domestic authority, and all foreign policy, remains with the British Parliament in Westminster.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The public take part in Parliament in a way that is not the case at Westminster through Cross-Party Groups on policy topics which the interested public join and attend meetings of alongside Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The resurgence in Celtic language and identity, as well as 'regional' politics and development, has contributed to forces pulling against the unity of the state. This was clearly demonstrated when - although some argue it was influenced by general public disillusionment with Labour - the Scottish National Party (SNP) became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament by one seat.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Alex Salmond (leader of SNP between 2004 and 2014) made history becoming the first First Minister of Scotland from a party other than Labour following the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. The SNP governed as a minority administration following this election. Nationalism (support for breaking up the UK) has experienced a dramatic rise in popularity in recent years, with a pivotal moment coming at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election where the SNP capitalised on the collapse of the Liberal Democrat support to improve on their 2007 performance to win the first ever outright majority at Holyrood (despite the voting system being specifically designed to prevent majorities), with Labour remaining the largest opposition party.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: This election result prompted the leader of the three main opposition parties to resign. Iain Gray was succeeded as Scottish Labour leader by Johann Lamont, Scottish Conservative and Unionist leader, Annabel Goldie was replaced by Ruth Davidson, and Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats was replaced by Willie Rennie.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: A major SNP manifesto pledge was to hold a referendum on Scottish Independence, which was duly granted by the British Government and held on 18 September 2014. When the nationalists came to power in 2011, opinion polls placed support for independence at around 31%, but in 2014, 45% voted to leave the union. In the wake of the referendum defeat, membership of the SNP surged to over 100,000, overtaking the Liberal Democrats as the third largest political party in the UK by membership, and in the general election of May 2015 the SNP swept the board and took 56 of the 59 Westminster constituencies in Scotland (far surpassing their previous best of 11 seats in the late 1970s) and winning more than 50% of the Scottish vote.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Salmond resigned as First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP following the country's rejection of independence in September 2014, and was succeeded in both roles by the deputy First Minister and deputy leader of the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon. Also in the wake of the referendum, Lamont stood down as Scottish Labour leader and Jim Murphy was elected to replace her. Murphy was the leader until the general election in 2015 in which he lost his seat in Westminster. After the defeat, he resigned his position and her deputy MSP Kezia Dugdale became leader of the party and leader of SLP in Holyrood. In 2017 she unexpectedly resigned and was replaced as Scottish Labour leader by the English-born Richard Leonard. He held the post until quitting in January 2021, with Anas Sarwar replacing him the following month.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for Wales) is the devolved legislature of Wales with power to make legislation and vary taxes. The Parliament comprises 60 members, who are known as Members of the Senedd, or MSs (). Members are elected for four-year terms under an additional members system, where 40 MSs represent geographical constituencies elected by the plurality system, and 20 MSs from five electoral regions using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Welsh Parliament was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998, which followed a referendum in 1997. On its creation, most of the powers of the Welsh Office and Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to it. The Senedd had no powers to initiate primary legislation until limited law-making powers were gained through the Government of Wales Act 2006. Its primary law-making powers were enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum on 3 March 2011, making it possible for it to legislate without having to consult the British parliament, nor the Secretary of State for Wales in the 20 areas that are devolved.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The government of Northern Ireland was established as a result of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. This created the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly is a unicameral body consisting of 90 members elected under the Single Transferable Vote form of proportional representation. The Assembly is based on the principle of power-sharing, in order to ensure that both communities in Northern Ireland, unionist and nationalist, participate in governing the region. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas and to elect the Northern Ireland Executive (cabinet). It sits at Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as "transferred matters". These matters are not explicitly enumerated in the Northern Ireland Act 1998 but instead include any competence not explicitly retained by the Parliament at Westminster. Powers reserved by Westminster are divided into "excepted matters", which it retains indefinitely, and "reserved matters", which may be transferred to the competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly at a future date. Health, criminal law and education are "transferred" while royal relations are all "excepted".


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: While the Assembly was in suspension, due to issues involving the main parties and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), its legislative powers were exercised by the UK government, which effectively had power to legislate by decree. Laws that would normally be within the competence of the Assembly were passed by the UK government in the form of Orders-in-Council rather than legislative acts.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: There has been a significant decrease in violence over the last twenty years, though the situation remains tense, with the more hard-line parties such as Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party now holding the most parliamentary seats (see Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by the political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the Treaty of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system. Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the appeal functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, comprising the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown dependencies.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law are based on common-law principles. The essence of common-law is that law is made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of legal precedent ("stare decisis") to the facts before them. The Courts of England and Wales are headed by the Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the hierarchy.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles, applies in Scotland. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law. Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known that as Sheriff solemn Court, or with a Sheriff and no jury, known as (Sheriff summary Court). The Sheriff courts provide a local court service with 49 Sheriff courts organised across six Sheriffdoms.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The use of the first-past-the-post to elect members of Parliament is unusual among European nations. The use of the system means that when three or more candidates receive a significant share of the vote, MPs are often elected from individual constituencies with a plurality (receiving more votes than any other candidate), but not an absolute majority (50 per cent plus one vote).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Elections and political parties in the United Kingdom are affected by Duverger's law, the political science principle which states that plurality voting systems, such as first-past-the-post, tend to lead to the development of two-party systems. The UK, like several other states, has sometimes been called a "two-and-a-half" party system, because parliamentary politics is dominated by the Labour Party and Conservative Party, while the Liberal Democrats, used to, hold a significant number of seats (but still substantially less than Labour and the Conservatives), and several small parties (some of them regional or nationalist) trailing far behind in the number of seats, although this changed in the 2015 general election.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In the last few general elections, voter mandates for Westminster in the 30–40% ranges have been swung into 60% parliamentary majorities. No single party has won a majority of the popular vote since the Third National Government of Stanley Baldwin in 1935. On two occasions since World War II – 1951 and February 1974 – a party that came in second in the popular vote came out with the larger number of seats.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Electoral reform for parliamentary elections have been proposed many times. The Jenkins Commission report in October 1998 suggested implementing the Alternative Vote Top-up (also called alternative vote plus or AV+) in parliamentary elections. Under this proposal, most MPs would be directly elected from constituencies by the alternative vote, with a number of additional members elected from "top-up lists." However, no action was taken by the Labour government at the time. There are several groups in the UK campaigning for electoral reform, including the Electoral Reform Society, Make Votes Count Coalition and Fairshare. The boundary commission for England has also suggested in its 2023 boundary review that constituency lines should be redrawn to allow constituencies to have a similar number of residents.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The 2010 general election resulted in a hung parliament (no single party being able to command a majority in the House of Commons). This was only the second general election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. The Conservatives gained the most seats (ending 13 years of Labour government) and the largest percentage of the popular vote but fell 20 seats short of a majority.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats entered into a new coalition government, headed by David Cameron. Under the terms of the coalition agreement, the government committed itself to hold a referendum in May 2011 on whether to change parliamentary elections from first-past-the-post to AV. Electoral reform was a major priority for the Liberal Democrats, who favour proportional representation but were able to negotiate only a referendum on AV (the alternative vote system is not a form of proportional representation) with the Conservatives. The coalition partners campaigned on opposite sides, with the Liberal Democrats supporting AV and the Conservatives opposing it. The referendum resulted in the Conservative's favour and the first-past-the-post system was maintained.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Since the 1920s the two main political parties in the UK, in terms of the number of seats in the House of Commons, are the Conservative and Unionist Party and the Labour Party. The Scottish National Party has the second largest party membership, but a smaller number of MPs as it only fields candidates for constituencies in Scotland.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The modern day Conservative Party was founded in 1834 and is an outgrowth of the Tory movement or party, which began in 1678. Today it is still colloquially referred to as the Tory Party and members/supporters are referred to as "Tories". The Liberal Democrats (or "Lib Dems") were founded in 1988 by an amalgamation of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a right-wing Labour breakaway movement formed in 1981. The Liberals and SDP had contested elections together as the SDP–Liberal Alliance for seven years previously. The modern Liberal Party had been founded in 1859 as an outgrowth of the Whig movement or party (which began at the same time as the Tory Party and was its historical rival) as well as the Radical and Peelite tendencies.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Liberal Party was one of the two dominant parties (along with the Conservatives) from its founding until the 1920s, when it rapidly declined in popularity, and was supplanted on the left by the Labour Party, which was founded in 1900 and formed its first minority government in 1924. Since that time, the Labour and Conservative parties have been dominant, with the Liberals (later Liberal Democrats) being the third-largest party until 2015, when they lost 49 of their 57 seats, they now hold 11 seats. They lost 10 seats in the 2019 general election. Currently the Scottish National Party is the third largest party and have been since the 2015 General Election when they gained 56 seats. Founded in 1934, the SNP advocates Scottish independence and has had continuous representation in Parliament since 1967. The SNP currently leads a minority government in the Scottish Parliament, and has 48 MPs in the House of Commons after the 2019 general election.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: At the most recent general election in 2019, the Conservatives, gained a majority after two years of being a minority government.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Conservative Party won the largest number of seats at the 2015 general election, returning 330 MPs, enough for an overall majority, and went on to form the first Conservative majority government since the 1992 general election. The Conservatives won only 318 seats at the 2017 general election, but went on to form a confidence and supply deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who got 10 seats in the House of Commons, allowing the Conservative Party to remain in government. The Conservatives won 365 seats at the 2019 general election and had a majority, forming the first majority government since 2015–17.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Conservative Party can trace its origin back to 1662, with the Court Party and the Country Party being formed in the aftermath of the English Civil War. The Court Party soon became known as the Tories, a name that has stuck despite the official name being 'Conservative'. The term "Tory" originates from the Exclusion Crisis of 1678-1681 - the Whigs were those who supported the exclusion of the Roman Catholic Duke of York from the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland, and the Tories were those who opposed it. Both names were originally insults: a "whiggamore" was a horse drover (See Whiggamore Raid), and a "tory" ("Tóraidhe") was an Irish term for an outlaw, later applied to Irish Confederates and Irish Royalists, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Generally, the Tories were associated with lesser gentry and the Church of England, while Whigs were more associated with trade, money, larger land holders (or "land magnates"), expansion and tolerance of Catholicism. The Rochdale Radicals were a group of more extreme reformists who were also heavily involved in the cooperative movement. They sought to bring about a more equal society, and are considered by modern standards to be left-wing.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: After becoming associated with repression of popular discontent in the years after 1815, the Tories underwent a fundamental transformation under the influence of Robert Peel, himself an industrialist rather than a landowner, who in his 1834 "Tamworth Manifesto" outlined a new "Conservative" philosophy of reforming ills while conserving the good.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Though Peel's supporters subsequently split from their colleagues over the issue of free trade in 1846, ultimately joining the Whigs and the Radicals to form what would become the Liberal Party, Peel's version of the party's underlying outlook was retained by the remaining Tories, who adopted his label of Conservative as the official name of their party.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Conservatives were in government for eighteen years between 1979 and 1997, under the leadership of the first-ever female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and former Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major (1990–97). Their landslide defeat at the 1997 general election saw the Conservative Party lose over half their seats gained in 1992, and saw the party re-align with public perceptions of them. The Conservatives lost all their seats in both Scotland and Wales, and was their worst defeat since 1906.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In 2008, the Conservative Party formed a pact with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to select joint candidates for European and House of Commons elections; this angered the DUP as by splitting the Unionist vote, republican parties will be elected in some areas.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: After thirteen years in opposition, the Conservatives returned to power as part of a coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats in 2010, going on to form a majority government in 2015. David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister in July 2016, which resulted in the appointment of the country's second female Prime Minister, Theresa May. The Conservative Party is the only party in the history of the United Kingdom to have been governed by a female Prime Minister. In 2019, Boris Johnson was appointed Prime Minister after Theresa May stepped down during Brexit negotiations. At one point during 2019 his party had a parliamentary minority for a short period after he ejected a large number of party members, of which some were subsequently allowed to return for the 2019 General election. After the election the Tories returned with a majority government under Johnson.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Historically, the party has been the mainland party most pre-occupied by British unionism, as attested to by the party's full name, the Conservative and Unionist Party. This resulted in the merger between the Conservatives and Joseph Chamberlain's Liberal Unionist Party, composed of former Liberals who opposed Irish home rule. The unionist tendency is still in evidence today, manifesting sometimes as a scepticism or opposition to devolution, firm support for the continued existence of the United Kingdom in the face of movements advocating independence from the UK, and a historic link with the cultural unionism of Northern Ireland.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In November 2022, Tory MP Bob Stewart (politician) was in Bahrain when at the end of his address he declared “God save the King of Bahrain” followed by “God save the King of England”. Allegedly, the MP received £10,000 worth of gifts from the Bahraini government in the form of hospitality and travel to the Gulf nation. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time for the Tory MP to have spoken in defense of a despotic regime like Bahrain after being paid to travel to the country on multiple occasions along with thousands of pounds’ worth of spending. According to the register of interests Stewart flew to Bahrain in November 2021 and November 2019 with flights, meals and accommodation paid for by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bahrain. Bob remained unavailable when reached out for comment on the matter.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Labour Party won the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons at the 2019 general election, with 202 seats overall, 60 seats less than 2017.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The history of the Labour Party goes back to 1900, when a Labour Representation Committee was established and changed its name to "The Labour Party" in 1906. After the First World War, this led to the demise of the Liberal Party as the main reformist force in British politics. The existence of the Labour Party on the left-wing of British politics led to a slow waning of energy from the Liberal Party, which has consequently assumed third place in national politics. After performing poorly at the general elections of 1922, 1923 and 1924, the Liberal Party was superseded by the Labour Party as being the party of the left.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Following two brief spells in minority governments in 1924 and 1929–1931, the Labour Party won a landslide victory after World War II at the 1945 "khaki election"; winning a majority for the first time ever. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century, Labour governments alternated with Conservative governments. The Labour Party suffered the "wilderness years" of 1951–1964 (three consecutive general election defeats) and 1979–1997 (four consecutive general election defeats). During this second period, Margaret Thatcher, who became Leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, made a fundamental change to Conservative policies, turning the Conservative Party into an economically liberal party. At the 1979 general election, she defeated James Callaghan's Labour government following the Winter of Discontent. For all of the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Conservative governments under Thatcher and her successor John Major pursued policies of privatisation, anti-trade-unionism, and, for a time, monetarism, now known collectively as Thatcherism.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Labour Party elected left-winger Michael Foot as their leader in 1980, and he responded to dissatisfaction within the Labour Party by pursuing a number of radical policies developed by its grassroots members. In 1981, several centrist and right-leaning Labour MPs formed a breakaway group called the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a move which split Labour and is widely believed to have made the Labour Party unelectable for a decade. The SDP formed an alliance with the Liberal Party which contested the 1983 and 1987 general elections as a pro-European, centrist alternative to Labour and the Conservatives. Following some initial success, the SDP did not prosper (partly due to its unfavourable distribution of votes by the First-Past-the-Post electoral system), and was accused by some of splitting the Labour vote.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Labour Party was defeated in a landslide at the 1983 general election, and Michael Foot was replaced shortly thereafter by Neil Kinnock as party leader. Kinnock progressively expelled members of Militant, a left-wing group which practised entryism, and moderated many of the party's policies. Despite these changes, as well as electoral gains and also due to Kinnock's negative media image, Labour was defeated at the 1987 and 1992


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: general elections, and he was succeeded by Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Smith. Shadow Home Secretary Tony Blair became Leader of the Labour Party following Smith's sudden death from a heart attack in 1994. He continued to move the Labour Party towards the "centre" by loosening links with the unions and continuing many of Thatcher's neoliberal policies. This, coupled with the professionalising of the party machine's approach to the media, helped Labour win a historic landslide at the 1997 general election, after eighteen consecutive years of Conservative rule. Some observers say the Labour Party had by then morphed from a democratic socialist party to a social democratic party, a process which delivered three general election victories but alienated some of its core base; leading to the formation of the Socialist Labour Party. A subset of Labour MPs stand as joint Labour and Co-operative candidates due to a long-standing electoral alliance between the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party - the political arm of the British co-operative movement. At the 2019 general election, 26 were elected.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Scottish National Party won the third-largest number of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election, winning 56 MPs from the 59 constituencies in Scotland having won 50% of the popular vote. This was an increase of 50 MPs on the result achieved in 2010.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The SNP has enjoyed parliamentary representation continuously since 1967. Following the 2007 Scottish parliamentary elections, the SNP emerged as the largest party with 47 MSPs and formed a minority government with Alex Salmond as First Minister. After the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election, the SNP won enough seats to form a majority government, the first time this had ever happened since devolution was established in 1999.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Members of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru work together as a single parliamentary group following a formal pact signed in 1986. This group currently has 49 MPs.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Liberal Democrats won the fourth largest number of seats at the 2019 general election, returning 11 MPs.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Liberal Democrats were founded in 1988 by an amalgamation of the Liberal Party with the Social Democratic Party, but can trace their origin back to the Whigs and the Rochdale Radicals who evolved into the Liberal Party. The term 'Liberal Party' was first used officially in 1868, though it had been in use colloquially for decades beforehand. The Liberal Party formed a government in 1868 and then alternated with the Conservative Party as the party of government throughout the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Liberal Democrats are a party with policies on constitutional and political reforms, including changing the voting system for general elections (2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum), abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with a 300-member elected Senate, introducing fixed five-year Parliaments, and introducing a National Register of Lobbyists. They also support what they see as greater fairness and social mobility. In the coalition government, the party promoted legislation introducing a pupil premium - funding for schools directed at the poorest students to give them an equal chance in life. They also supported same-sex marriage and increasing the income tax threshold to £10,000, a pre-election manifesto commitment.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had 8 MPs elected at the 2019 general election. Founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley, it has grown to become the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin MPs had 7 MPs elected at the 2019 election, but Sinn Féin MPs traditionally abstain from the House of Commons and refuse to take their seats in what they view as a "foreign" parliament.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Plaid Cymru has enjoyed parliamentary representation continuously since 1974 and had 4 MPs elected at the 2019 general election, though one was suspended. Following the 2007 Welsh Assembly elections, they joined Labour as the junior partner in a coalition government, but have fallen down to the third-largest party in the Assembly after the 2011 Assembly elections, and have become an opposition party.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Green Party of England and Wales has had a single MP, Caroline Lucas, since 2010 and re-elected at the 2019 general election (the party previously had an MP in 1992; Cynog Dafis, Ceredigion, who was elected on a joint Plaid Cymru/Green Party ticket). It also has three seats on the London Assembly and over 500 local councillors as of May 2022.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The UK Independence Party (UKIP) had one MP and 24 seats in the European Parliament as well as a number of local councillors. UKIP also had a MLA in the Northern Ireland Assembly. UKIP had become an emerging alternative party among some voters, gaining the third-largest share of the vote in the 2015 general election and the largest share of the vote of any party (27%) in the 2014 European elections. In 2014 UKIP gained its first ever MP following the defection and re-election of Douglas Carswell in the 2014 Clacton by-election. They campaign mainly on issues such as reducing immigration and EU withdrawal. They no longer have any MPs.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Respect party, a left-wing group that came out of the anti-war movement had a single MP, George Galloway from 2005 to 2010, and again between 2012 and 2015.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Change UK was a political party formed and disbanded in 2019. It had five MPs, four of whom were elected as Labour MPs, and one as Conservative MPs.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: There are usually a small number of Independent politicians in parliament with no party allegiance. In modern times, this has usually occurred when a sitting member leaves their party, and some such MPs have been re-elected as independents. Since 1950, only two new members have been elected as independents without having ever stood for a major party:


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Brexit Party was founded in January 2019, with leader Nigel Farage (former retired UKIP leader). It initially had 14 MEPs, all of whom had been elected as members of UKIP. In the 2019 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom, it returned 29 MEPs. The MEPs were elected representatives of the party until 11pm on 31 January 2020 when the UK left the European Union and the position of British MEPs was subsequently abolished.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Following the 2021 Scottish Parliament Election the Scottish Greens have 8 MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and are the junior partner in the SNP/Green coalition. They also 35 local councillors.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Green Party in Northern Ireland has previously had MLAs in the Northern Ireland Assembly. They currently have 8 local councillors.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) won its first seat in the Scottish Parliament in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election. In the 2003 Scottish Parliament election the party increased their number of seats to 6. The party built up its support through opposing the war in Iraq and fighting for policies such as free school meals and an end to prescription charges. In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election it lost all of its MSPs but remains politically active and continues to contest elections.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The British National Party (BNP) won two seats in the European Parliament in the 2009 European elections, before losing both seats in 2014. In May 2018 the party lost its last elected representative (a local councillor).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Women's Equality Party (WEP) was founded in 2015. The party gained its first elected representation in the 2019 United Kingdom local elections, winning one local councillor seat on Congleton Town Council. The party has no other elected representation at any other level of governance.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Libertarian Party was founded in 2008 and has contested several local elections and parliamentary constituencies. It has no elected representatives at any level of governance.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The English Democrats was founded in 2002 and advocates England having its own parliament. The party's candidate was elected mayor of Doncaster in 2009, before resigning from the party in February 2013.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Other parties include: the Socialist Labour Party (UK), the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the Communist Party of Britain, the Socialist Party (England and Wales), the Socialist Workers Party, the Liberal Party, Mebyon Kernow (a Cornish nationalist party) in Cornwall, the Yorkshire Party in Yorkshire, and the National Health Action Party. The Pirate Party UK existed from 2009 to 2020.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Several local parties contest only within a specific area, a single county, borough or district. Examples include the Better Bedford Independent Party, which was one of the dominant parties in Bedford Borough Council and led by Bedford's former Mayor, Frank Branston. The most notable local party is Health Concern, which controlled a single seat in the British Parliament from 2001 to 2010.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Jury Team, launched in March 2009 and described as a "non-party party", is an umbrella organisation seeking to increase the number of independent MPs.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Official Monster Raving Loony Party was founded in 1983. The OMRLP are distinguished by having a deliberately bizarre manifesto, which contains things that seem to be impossible or too absurd to implement – usually to highlight what they see as real-life absurdities. It is effectively regarded as a satirical political party.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: After winning the largest number of seats and votes in the 2015 general election, the Conservatives under David Cameron, remained ahead of the Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn since September 2015. The SNP maintained its position in Scotland, the party was just short of an overall majority at the Scottish parliamentary elections in May 2016.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: However, a turbulent referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union, called for by David Cameron, led to his resignation, the appointment of a new prime minister Theresa May, and divided opinion on Europe amongst the party.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In addition, the EU referendum campaign plunged the Labour Party into crisis and resulted in a motion of no confidence in the party leader Jeremy Corbyn being passed by the party's MPs in a 172–40 vote, which followed a significant number of resignations from the Shadow Cabinet. This led to a leadership election which began with Angela Eagle, the former Shadow First Secretary of State and Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills who eight days later withdrew from the leadership race, to support Owen Smith, the former Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. This was won by Jeremy Corbyn with an increased majority.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: Following the vote to leave the European Union, Nigel Farage offered his own resignation as leader, something he had campaigned for since 1992. A leadership contest also took place in the Green Party, which led to the joint election on 2 September 2016 of Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas as co-leaders, who took over the role in a job-share arrangement. Lucas, was previously leader until 2010 and is the party's only MP. Strategic cross-party alliances have been initiated, including a "progressive alliance" and a "Patriotic Alliance", as proposed by UKIP donor Arron Banks.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In 2017, the prime minister, Theresa May, called a general election. She hoped to increase the conservative majority to diffuse party opposition to her deal to leave the EU. In the election, the conservatives lost seats and the Labour party, under Jeremy Corbyn, gained 30 seats. This led to a minority conservative government supported by the DUP.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) rated the United Kingdom as a "full democracy" in 2017. In the 2018 EIU democracy index, the UK remained 11th out of the 14 western European nations classed as 'full democracy' with an overall score of 8.53 out of a maximum of 10. It received a comparatively low mark in the 'functioning of government' assessment.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In July 2019, Boris Johnson won the leadership of the conservative party following the resignation of May. He became the prime minister by default.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In August 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson requested the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to prorogue the British parliament. Although this measure is common for incoming governments to allow time to prepare the Queen's speech, the move caused great controversy as it was announced to last 23 days instead of the usual 4 or 5 days. It would end the current session of the Parliament that had been running for 2 years and prevent further parliamentary debate. The government stated that it was nothing to do with Brexit and that there would still be "ample time" for debate before Brexit happens. Opponents believed that parliament had been suspended to force through a no-deal Brexit and prevent parliament from being able to thwart the government's plan. Others argued that it facilitated the Brexit negotiations by forcing the EU to modify the current proposed deal. The move is unprecedented in British politics and caused debate in the media, an attempt to stop it in the Scottish Court of Session, an attempt by ex-prime minister John Major and others to stop it in the English High Court and in the High Court in Northern Ireland. It was reported by many media sources that the move takes the UK one more step towards a full dictatorship from its current status of 'elective dictatorship'. The legality of the suspension of parliament was tested in courts in England and Scotland. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. On 24 September, it ruled unanimously that the prorogation was both justiciable and unlawful. The prorogation was quashed and deemed "null and of no [legal] effect". Parliament resumed the next day.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: On the return of parliament the government lost its when Conservative MP Phillip Lee crossed the floor of the house to join the Liberal Democrats. This meant that the combined votes of the Conservative and DUP MPs amounted to one less than the combined votes of opposition parties. The government of Boris Johnson then lost a vote, 301 to 328, giving control of the agenda of the house to the MPs, removing the control the government had over the introduction of new laws. The 21 Conservative MPs who voted against their own government had the whip removed by Number 10, removing them from the party. This included long-standing members of the party. Johnson called for a general election and following a few attempts succeeded in getting a vote approving an election through parliament.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In the December 2019 general election, the Conservative Party, led by Boris Johnson, won a large overall majority. Jeremy Corbyn resigned as leader of the Labour Party. Jo Swinson resigned as Lib Dem leader after losing her own seat.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: On 20 December 2019, the Brexit withdrawal agreement was passed. The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020 at 11 p.m. GMT and entered a transition period, set to finish on 31 December 2020.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In January 2020, the Labour Party began the process of electing a new leader. On 4 April 2020, Keir Starmer was elected leader of the Labour Party with 56.2% of the vote in the first round.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In October 2020, Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party over his comments about antisemitism. According to "The Washington Post":


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The present dispute within the Labour party is likely causing the leftist political coalition to further fragment since the catastrophic result in 2019. Polling generally indicates that "at present" (August 2021) Labour has lost significant portions of its vote share to the Green party and the Liberal Democrats. At Labour Conference 2021, several showdowns between the left and right of the party are expected to take place. This includes but is not limited to: a motion to give members power to approve or reject decisions over the Labour whip within the PLP, a potential rejection of the pro-Starmer interim General Secretary David Evans by unions and members alike, a debate over PR and a significant debate over the loss of members and their subscription fees since Corbyn's expulsion which has left the party in a dire state regarding its activist and financial bases.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The SNP and the Scottish Greens won the right to form a Scottish coalition government in May 2021. The precise arrangement is loose and allows the Greens freedom to criticise official SNP policy on key areas of disagreement. However, it provides FM Nicola Sturgeon with a mandate to call for a new independence referendum after the failed one in 2014. Proponents of a new referendum particularly cite Brexit as changing the political situation, thus leading Scots to be more pro-independence than in 2014. As an issue, Scottish independence is known to cross-cut across party lines, with many Scottish Labour voters in particular being favourable to the prospect of independence.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: All political parties have membership schemes that allow members of the public to actively influence the policy and direction of the party to varying degrees, though particularly at a local level. Membership of British political parties is around 1% of the British electorate, which is lower than in all European countries except for Poland and Latvia. Overall membership to a political party has been in decline since the 1950s. In 1951, the Conservative Party had 2.2 million members, and a year later in 1952 the Labour Party reached their peak of 1 million members (of an electorate of around 34 million).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The table below details the membership numbers of political parties that have more than 5,000 members.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: No data could be collected for the four parties of Northern Ireland: the DUP, UUP, SDLP, and Sinn Féin. However, in January 1997, it was estimated that the UUP had 10,000 – 12,000 members, and the DUP had 5,000 members.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The United Kingdom first joined the then European Communities in January 1973 by the then Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, and remained a member of the European Union (EU) that it evolved into; British citizens, and other EU citizens resident in the UK, between 1979 and 2019 elected members to represent them in the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: The UK's membership in the Union has been a major topic of debate over the years and has been objected to over questions of sovereignty, and in recent years there have been divisions in both major parties over whether the UK should form greater ties within the EU, or reduce the EU's supranational powers. Opponents of greater European integration are known as "Eurosceptics", while supporters are known as "Europhiles". Division over Europe is prevalent in both major parties, although the Conservative Party is seen as most divided over the issue, both whilst in Government up to 1997 and after 2010, and between those dates as the opposition. However, the Labour Party is also divided, with conflicting views over British adoption of the euro whilst in Government (1997–2010).


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: British nationalists have long campaigned against European integration. The strong showing of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) since the 2004 European Parliament elections has shifted the debate over UK relations with the EU.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In March 2008, Parliament decided to not hold a referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, signed in December 2007. This was despite the Labour government promising in 2004 to hold a referendum on the previously proposed Constitution for Europe.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum. After the referendum, it was debated as to how and when the UK should leave the EU. On 11 July 2016, the Cabinet Office Minister, John Penrose failed to deliver a final answer on whether it would be at the disposal of the Prime Minister and one of the Secretaries of State, through the royal prerogative, or of Parliament, through primary legislation.


title: Politics of the United Kingdom

text: In October 2016 the Conservative Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced that Article 50 would be invoked by "the first quarter of 2017". On 24 January 2017 the Supreme Court ruled in the Miller case by a majority that the process could not be initiated without an authorising act of parliament, but unanimously ruled against the Scottish government's claim in respect of devolution that they had a direct say in the decision to trigger Article 50. Consequently, the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 empowering the prime minister to invoke Article 50 was passed and enacted by royal assent in March 2017.