The British government was the governing body of the United Kingdom. It was formally known as Her Majesty's Government (HOMEVID: The Zero Imperative) (H.M. Government) (WC: Tardisode 13) or His Majesty's Government. (PROSE: The Hollow Men [+]Loading...["The Hollow Men (novel)"])
Structure[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2011, American Rex Matheson likened the UK government's administration to kindergarten. (TV: The New World)
The government was headed by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who was elected by a democratic vote. The Prime Minister resided in 10 Downing Street. The Prime Minister and other ministers formed the Cabinet. They operated from either the Houses of Parliament or the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street. Members of Parliament each had their own constituency. (TV: Aliens of London, PROSE: The Plotters)
The devolved government of Wales included the Welsh Assembly. (AUDIO: Changes Everything)
The Ministry of Defence was a department of the British government responsible for its armed forces. (TV: Doctor Who and the Silurians)
The Home Office was a department of the British government responsible for the order and security of the United Kingdom. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three)
The Inland Revenue was responsible for taxation within the UK on behalf of the government. (AUDIO: Cuddlesome)
Influence on the Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Doctor had a long-standing connection with the British government, consorting with monarchs, (TV: The Beast Below) Prime Ministers (TV: The Christmas Invasion) and other members. (TV: The Claws of Axos)
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
19th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
According to later documentation, there was a confidential cargo being transported on the Elysium under government warrant; this was potentially a valuable statue, though Whitehall refused to comment and officials denied these claims. However, media coverage at the time had no indication of this confidential cargo ever existing. (PROSE: Pride of Mayfield Star Lines Beached in Devastating Storm)
20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
During World War II, when it appeared that the United Kingdom would be invaded by Nazi Germany, four citadels were built under the surface of London. They were intended to allow the British government to continue operations if the worst happened. After the war, the citadels were maintained due to the threat posed by the Soviet Union in the Cold War. (AUDIO: The Fifth Citadel)
In the 1950s, the British government created Department C19. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice) Hours of television broadcast in the United Kingdom were strictly limited by the government, and each evening's broadcasts from Alexandra Palace ended between 10.30 and 11pm with the National Anthem. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac)
In 1975, the government quietly closed down a secret evolutionary project codenamed BEAGLE, ordering the destruction of all research materials. (HOMEVID: Unnatural Selection)
In the 1970s, the British government sponsored the Inferno Project, led by Professor Stahlman. (TV: Inferno)
In the 1990s, Liz Shaw was headhunted to join P.R.O.B.E. There were issues of funding and the organisation was at risk of being shut down by the government if it handed cases over to the police. P.R.O.B.E. was answerable to a minister, a position held by Sir Richard Stevenson and, from 1995, Brian Rutherford. The liaison to the ministry was Patsy Haggard. (HOMEVID: The Zero Imperative, The Devil of Winterborne)
In 1991, an unsuccessful terrorist attack prompted the government to install three-inch thick steel walls in the Cabinet Room of 10 Downing Street, making it one of the safest rooms in the United Kingdom. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])
In 1994, the government enacted the Care in the Community scheme, shutting down a number of asylums. (HOMEVID: The Zero Imperative)
21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]
The government employed Temporary Solutions to staff a number of offices - including HQP and XXX - with temporary people, tasked with digitising the government's old data. Yvonne Hartman was distrustful of Temporary Solutions and believed that they were up to something. (AUDIO: 9 to 5 [+]Loading...["9 to 5 (Torchwood One audio story)"])
By 2006, given Britain's past record, their access codes for nuclear weapons were taken out of the government's hands and given to the United Nations in a move voted against by Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North and lifelong "backbencher". (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"])
On the Who is Doctor Who? website in early 2006, the webmaster believed there was a government conspiracy growing, as MP Joseph Green had recently had an unexplained weight gain. He also questioned if the government was truly composed of fat cats, feeling that it was time for a change. (PROSE: Rose sighting confirmed [+]Loading...["Rose sighting confirmed (short story)"])
By March, the government had been infiltrated by the Slitheen family of Raxacoricofallapatorius, who murdered the Prime Minister with Jocrassa Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen becoming Acting Prime Minister while wearing the skin suit of Joseph Green, formerly MP for Hartley Dale and Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionery. Other officials replaced included Ewan McAllister, Deputy Secretary for the Scottish Parliament, and transport liaison Oliver Charles.
The government's Emergency Protocols came into play after the country was put on red alert under the suspicion of alien invasion following the London UFO crash on 6 March 2006 (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"]) or 28 June, (PROSE: Operation London [+]Loading...["Operation London (short story)"]) which was staged by the Slitheen. Initially, it was reported by the news that the government showed a "remarkable lack of leadership", (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"]) with Major Jenny Maguire submitting an assessment to a secure operations board on the UNIT website about the crash, wherein she mentioned that the "government [were] being less than helpful." At about 2pm, Maguire also stated that the government had requested that UNIT's top experts to be sent to 10 Downing Street, (PROSE: Operation London [+]Loading...["Operation London (short story)"]) and that night, the alien specialists from UNIT, including the Ninth Doctor, were gathered in 10 Downing Street where they were to be killed, (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"]) with only the Doctor surviving. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"]) At the same time, Mx wrote on his website about how he believed that the government would have to respond to the existence of aliens, given they'd be unable to deny it. (PROSE: Alien landing confirmed [+]Loading...["Alien landing confirmed (short story)"])
Urging the United Nations for the nuclear access codes to fight the alien invasion that they had fabricated, the Slitheen in fact intended to use the weaponry to destroy the planet for profit, a plot which was thwarted as 10 Downing Street was destroyed by harpoon missile UGM-84A just as they were to receive approval from the United Nations, killing the majority of the Slitheen. In the aftermath, the Doctor recalled that Harriet Jones would be elected Prime Minister for three successive terms, becoming the architect of Britain's Golden Age. (TV: World War Three [+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"]) The morning after, Mickey wrote on his website about how the seat of the government was rubble. (PROSE: Hoax This! [+]Loading...["Hoax This! (short story)"]) A week later, he wrote that the Government and the world's media was conspiring to deny the event. (PROSE: Henry Van Statten [+]Loading...["Henry Van Statten (short story)"])
In September, Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, having survived the destruction of 10 Downing Street, became Lord Mayor of Cardiff as former MI5 agent Margaret Blaine, intending to use the Blaidd Drwg project to destroy and escape the planet. Government nuclear adviser Mr Cleaver was ostensibly killed in an accident, actually murdered by Blon. Ultimately, Blon's plot was thwarted by the TARDIS, regressing her back to an egg. (TV: Boom Town [+]Loading...["Boom Town (TV story)"])
By December, Harriet Jones had been elected Prime Minister and faced an invasion of Earth by the Sycorax on 24 December, which government sources called the "longest night". Though the Sycorax were forced to leave by the Tenth Doctor on 25 December, the Prime Minister, aware of the Torchwood Institute despite their secrecy, ordered them to destroy the Sycorax spaceship, to the Doctor's anger. In retaliation, the Doctor brought down Harriet's government with only six words: "Don't you think she looks tired?" Rumours of the Prime Minister's ill health quickly emerged, and she faced a vote of no confidence. (TV: The Christmas Invasion [+]Loading...["The Christmas Invasion (TV story)"])
Shortly following Harriet Jones' downfall, the Saxon Master infiltrated the British government, becoming a minister, and launched the Archangel Network of fifteen satellites. Ostensibly a mobile phone network, Archangel was used by the Master to mentally influence the human population of Earth. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"])
In 2007, Saxon grew in popularity as the country endured months of "government paralysis". (TV: Love & Monsters [+]Loading...["Love & Monsters (TV story)"]) As Minister of Defence, he designed the UNIT aircraft carrier Valiant and rose to prominence after ordering the destruction of the Racnoss Webstar which attacked London on 24 December. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"], The Runaway Bride [+]Loading...["The Runaway Bride (TV story)"])
The government declared a State of Emergency during the Battle of Canary Wharf. (WC: Tardisode 13 [+]Loading...["Tardisode 13"]) Following the battle, Jack Harkness claimed to Gwen Cooper that the Torchwood Institute was "separate" from the government, clarifying that he could not allow any one power to acquire the alien technology Torchwood collected. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"])
When the Cardiff Space-Time Rift fractured resulting in time slips across the world, the government was one of several organisations that noticed the strange appearances that were occurring worldwide and asked if it had anything to do with Torchwood. (TV: End of Days [+]Loading...["End of Days (TV story)"])
Ultimately, election day came and the Master was elected Prime Minister in 2008. Speaking openly about aliens incidents, which the government did not disclose to the public, "Saxon" introduced the Toclafane, a race of supposedly peaceful aliens that he had been in contact with. Though first contact was taken over by UNIT and American President Arthur Coleman Winters, the Master had the Toclafane assassinate the President before conquering the Earth. Earth was ruled by the Master for a year before the destruction of the paradox machine reversed time so that the invasion never happened. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)","The Sound of Drums"]/Last of the Time Lords [+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"])
By the 2000s,[nb 1] ATMOS was fitted as standard on all government vehicles. (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem [+]Loading...["The Sontaran Stratagem (TV story)"])
During the 21st century Dalek invasion, contact with Prime Minister Aubrey Fairchild's plane was lost. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"])
In September 2009, the British government sought to placate the 456 and destroy Torchwood Three to prevent them from interfering. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)"], Children of Earth: Day Four [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Four (TV story)"])
In late 2023, the government was affected by the Toymaker's waveform that induced an anarchy where everyone believed they were correct; Prime Minister Edward Lawn Bridges stated on television that he was apathetic to the needs of the public. (TV: The Giggle [+]Loading...{"timestamp":"00:08:35","1":"The Giggle (TV story)"}, PROSE: The Giggle [+]Loading...["The Giggle (novelisation)"])
In 2050, the British Government was somehow taken over by a Korven called Lomax who turned it into a corrupt, totalitarian government in preparation for the pending Korven invasion. By this time, government agencies MI5 and MI6 appeared to have merged together to form the Department. The British government had also gained control of the Americas, the Pacific Union, and several other countries they considered "lesser". (TV: Regeneration [+]Loading...["Regeneration (TV story)"])[additional sources needed]
Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]
Parallel universes[[edit] | [edit source]]
In Pete's World, the government of Great Britain was led by a President. By 2007, it was said by some people that the government had been purchased by John Lumic's Cybus Industries. The Preachers, who opposed Cybus, were fed information from a government mole codenamed "Gemini", actually Pete Tyler. After the British government rejected Lumic's "ultimate upgrade" proposal, Lumic had his Cybermen kill the President, wiping out the government as Jake Simmonds put it. (TV: Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel) By 2010, following a successful war against the Cybermen, the People's Republic of Great Britain took control of Torchwood. The President at this time was Harriet Jones. (TV: Doomsday)
Unclear[[edit] | [edit source]]
In a parallel world, an emergency government was established in Britain following the destruction of London on 25 December 2008. (TV: Turn Left)
References[[edit] | [edit source]]
Dave Oswald was very cross with the government in 2013, something the Doctor wrote several pages of notes on. (TV: The Bells of Saint John)
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ The present day of Doctor Who's fourth series is not consistently dated, with TV: The Fires of Pompeii, TV: The Waters of Mars, and AUDIO: SOS setting the present of the 13 regular episodes in 2008 (heavily implied by TV: The Star Beast and TV: The Giggle as well), and PROSE: Beautiful Chaos setting them in about April to June 2009.