Taylor and Francis Group is part of the Academic Publishing Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

Informa

Weblinks

Click on the tabs below to view the content for each chapter.

Chapter 1

  • Political Studies Association - Two 'gateways' providing links to a series of useful websites on politics in the UK are highly recommended: the Political Studies Association (www.psa.ac.uk) and Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources site

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

  • National Archives at Kew - The National Archives at Kew maintain documents from central government departments. A small selection of their material is available online. 
  • Documents on British history - A useful ‘gateway’ providing links to primary documents on British history. 
  • Thatcher Foundation - The Thatcher Foundation has an extensive collection of material available online. 

Chapter 4

  • Citizenship education - Websites provide an essential source for the most up-to-date statistics. The most comprehensive source is the government’s site, National Statistics Online, which provides results from the 2001 census and numerous links to more detailed and updated studies of social trends. For further information on citizenship education
  • National Statistics Online

Chapter 5

  • The Guardian - Most national daily and Sunday newspapers have websites that contain full electronic versions of their print editions. The best coverage of the media and politics is found in the media section of The Guardian .
  • Audit Bureau of Circulations - Circulation figures are published by the Audit Bureau of Circulations
  • BBC - Details on the organisation of the BBC are at www.bbc.co.uk/info
  • The Department for Culture, Media and Sport
  • Ofcom - Ofcom is the independent regulator for the communications industry.
  • The Press Complaints Commission site - The Press Complaints Commission site includes details of a code of practice for the press.
  • The Hutton Inquiry site - The Hutton Inquiry site set new standards for government transparency by releasing hundreds of documents.
  • The Leveson Inquiry site - The Leveson Inquiry site gives details of findings in the wake of the media ‘phone hacking’ scandal.

Chapter 6

  • Ministry of Justice - The Ministry of Justice has responsibility for rights, the legal system, reform of the House of Lords and electoral administration.
  • Monarchy - The monarchy has also gone online and contains information about the current role of the monarchy and offers the chance to email the Queen.
  • Constitution Unit of University College, London - There are authoritative discussions of recent developments on the site of the Constitution Unit, based in University College, London.
  • Democratic Audit - Particularly useful are the ‘Monitor’ newsletters and the summary assessments of constitutional reform under the Blair and Brown governments. The Democratic Audit is an independent research unit that has produced audits of democracy in Britain, including constitutional reform.
  • Unlock Democracy (formerly Charter 88) - Unlock Democracy (formerly Charter 88) has been the most influential pro-constitutional reform pressure group. Its website includes updates on recent developments and campaign material.
  • Electoral Reform Society
  • Civil liberties group Liberty

Chapter 7

  • 10 Downing Street website - The 10 Downing Street website provides transcripts of the Prime Minister’s speeches and of daily press briefings but includes little on the Prime Minister’s Office.
  • The Cabinet Office website - The Cabinet Office website has detailed information on the Ministerial Code, Cabinet committees and the civil service.
  • e-government strategy - This website was set up as part of the e-government strategy and includes an A–Z of central government with links.
  • Civil service - On the civil service, the Cabinet Office site and the companion site to Martin Stanley’s book How to be a Civil Servant covers the organisation and its reform.
  • Civil Servant

Chapter 8

  • Best resource for students of parliament - This provides links to sites for the House of Commons and the House of Lords, giving concise introductions to parliamentary procedure and recent reforms. It also provides access to the official record of debates (Hansard) and even contact addresses for MPs and peers.
  • Specialist politics news website - A specialist politics news website features many useful links to articles with more critical content.
  • The Ministry of Justice - The Ministry of Justice is responsible for reform of the Lords and includes full details of recent reform proposals.
  • Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart’s website - Provides a comprehensive analysis of backbench rebellions, complete with spirited commentary
  • Public Whip - Provides details of the voting records of MPs since 1997
  • They Work For You - This site has a search facility for everything each MP and peer has said in parliament since 2001. Finally, many MPs now host blogs which discuss parliamentary developments.

Chapter 9

  • Ministry of Justice - The websites for the Ministry of Justice provide internal and external links for students in search of up-to-date information on judicial and police matters.
  • Home Office - The websites for the Home Office provide internal and external links for students in search of up-to-date information on judicial and police matters.
  • The website of the pressure group Liberty - Latest developments in the field of human rights can be consulted on the website of the pressure group Liberty.
  • The Human Rights Act
  • Macpherson Report

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 15

The main British political parties have websites containing details of their organisation: 

Chapter 16

Probably the most useful sources on the Internet for this chapter are the sites of the parties themselves, where students will find statements of general aims as well as links to speeches and press releases. See, in particular 

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 20

  • Democratic Audit site - The Democratic Audit site (www.democraticaudit.com) includes briefings on the health of British democracy and the Constitution Unit (www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit) has regular updates on constitutional form.
  • BBC News website - The BBC News website is an excellent source of information on developments in British politics.
  • Epolitix - Epolitix is also recommended
  • New ‘blogs’ on British politics - New ‘blogs’ on British politics are emerging on a weekly basis, although the quality varies greatly. Among the most informative and entertaining are