The House of Commons

This is the lower chamber, but the one with most authority. It is chaired by the Speaker. Unlike the Speaker in the US House of Representatives, the post is non-political and indeed, by convention, the political parties do not contest the Parliamentary constituency held by the Speaker. The number of members varies slightly from time to time to reflect population change.

In modern practice, the Prime Minister is the head of the Government and is always a member of the majority party or coalition in the House of Commons. The Cabinet comprises primarily leading House of Commons Members of the majority, although Members of the House of Lords have served as Cabinet ministers. In fact, designating someone outside Parliament as a “life peer” has been one recent means of bringing someone essentially from private life into the Government. (In Britain, a life peer is a person who is given a title such as 'Lord' or 'Lady' which they can use for the rest of their life but which they cannot pass on when they die.)

The Prime Minister, although head of the Government and an MP, is now not usually the Leader of the House of Commons. The Leader of the House of Commons, a member of the Government, is the chief spokesman for the majority party on matters of the internal operation of the House of Commons. The Office of the Leader issues announcements of the impending House of Commons schedule, and a routine inquiry from the Opposition’s counterpart serves as an occasion for the Leader to announce the business for the next two weeks of session.

In the House of Commons, party organizations (akin to the Republican Conference or Democratic Caucus) meet regularly to discuss policy, and to provide an opportunity for backbench party members to voice their views to ministers or shadow cabinet members in a private forum.

The Position of Speaker of the House of Commons and its Comparison with the Indian and American Speaker