The British-American Parliamentary Group is a group consisting of members of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. "The objects of the British-American Parliamentary Group are to promote friendly relations and mutual understanding between Members of both Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom and Members of both Houses of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

of the United States of America; to discuss problems common to the United Kingdom and the United States; to exchange courtesies and to provide opportunities for discussion with Senators, members of the House of Representatives, and other distinguished citizens of the United States; and to arrange for the exchange of visits and information between legislators of both countries." Its co-presidents are the

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: *Speaker of ...

and the

Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the members ...

, among the vice presidents are former Speakers of the House of Commons, one former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, the current deputy prime minister, former leaders of the opposition, and former foreign secretaries. The chairman is the prime minister. There are currently over 600 members from both the Labour and Conservative parties. The group is an autonomous body within parliament, therefore they appoint their own staff to carry out the group's proceedings. The British American Parliamentary Group was founded just before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1937 in hopes of creating closer relations between the members of Congress and Parliament. It was initially funded by the British Government and is now being financed through a combination of a grant from the House of Commons and the members' subscriptions. In 1967 they formally adopted rules and objectives and have made a few amendments since then. There are currently 14 rules and objectives. In 2012 the British-American Parliamentary Group celebrated their 35th anniversary of connecting British Members of Parliament with U.S. members of Congress. While the group has been around since the late 1930s, MPs did not start visiting Congress members until 1977. The exchange allows for participants to network with each other, learn about the different political processes of the two countries and discuss different policies. The MPs and Congress members were matched up at the beginning of the week, they were able to shadow the Congress members both in D.C. and in their home congressional districts. In 2014, 4 MPs (members of parliament) spent a week in D.C. meeting with United States Congressmen, visiting the different government departments such as the Department of Defense, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. The purpose of the visit and the meetings that ensued were to inform the MPs of how the US political process works, policy development, and the structure of the federal government.

References

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External links

British-American Parliamentary Group
official website
The British-American Parliamentary Group 1941–1991 (plus additions)
Roger Moate All-Party Parliamentary Groups United Kingdom–United States relations

See also

References

External links