<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by The Disco Volante:
There is no need for Mr. Blair (or any other prime minister) to have his own plane. He is a private citizen like anyone else in the UK. The Queen is the Head of State in the UK (and therefore the equivalent in the UK of the President of the USA or any other republic) and therefore gets (or got) the "state" plane, palaces etc and carries out all the duties of Head of State that in the US are carried out by the President.</font>
O.k., now you've REALLY confused the dumb american :-)
I always thought that the monarch's role in contemporary British government was strictly ceremonial (opening the houses of Parliment and such). You seem to be implying that the monarch acts as the executive of the government, and is responsible for the establishment of policy, development of budgets, etc?????
I do understand that the PM is just another citizen of the U.K. One could argue that the President of the U.S. is also just another citizen of the U.S., however special facilities (such as the White House, various aircraft, etc.) are made available to that office (and therefore to the holder of that office). I rather thought the same might be true in the UK. Are you saying then that all of the palaces and castles and such are property of the government of the UK and not the property of the Royal family? I'm sorry moderators, feel free to close the thread if it's drifted too far away from BA. It is rather interesting though :-)