B

In a broad sense，the U.K.government comprises the monarch，the Parliament，the judiciary and the executive branch led by the Prime Minister.In common British usage，however，people tend to use the term“government”to denote the executive branch in particular.

Number 10 Downing Street

The government is headed by the Prime Minister，who is usually the leader of the majority party in Parliament.The Prime Minister as Head of Cabinet and Government as a whole is ultimately responsible for the policies and decisions of the government.Acting in the name of the monarch，the Prime Minister exercises all the theoretical powers of the Crown.

After each general election，the monarch typically asks the leader of the winning party to become the Prime Minister and to form a new government.As the Prime Minister is also the head of the majority party in Parliament，he and his Cabinet can usually control legislation.Most cabinet members are officially called“Departmental Ministers”or“Secretaries of State”.Some have special titles，such as the Chancellor of the Exchequer（who is equivalent to a finance minister）.The Cabinet may also include members who are not in charge of any particular departments.These are sometimes referred to as“non⁃departmental Ministers”，and may hold the title of Minister without Portfolio，or that of traditional offices like the Paymaster General or the Lord Privy Seal.

The Cabinet generally works on the principle of collective responsibility and ministerial responsibility.Collective responsibility means that once government policies are decided，all members of the Cabinet are expected to publicly support those policies even if they privately disagree with them.The only way to express dissent is to resign.Ministerial responsibility means that the ministers are responsible for the work of their respective departments，and therefore a minister must resign if serious misdeeds emerge within their department，even if they had no knowledge of those misdeeds at the time they occurred.Administrative decisions of the Cabinet are executed by the entire executive apparatus，both civil and military.

Besides the Cabinet，the executive branch also includes the Privy Council，which is largely a ceremonial body whose duty is to give advice to the monarch.The number of Privy Councilors is not fixed，and new members are frequently appointed.Privy Councilors are generally current and former Cabinet members and important public figures in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.There are many committees in the Privy Council，the most important of which is the Judicial Committee which serves as the highest court of appeal for church⁃related matters and for certain issues originating from some Commonwealth countries.