Who is more powerful?

[Oneeyedvic]

Who is more powerful in this country - Tony Blair, the Queen, Rupert Murdoch, Richard Branson or Philip Green (or anyone else - just names I can think of at the moment)

 

Personally I think Rupert Murdoch.

[Andrew_2004]

The queen is by far the most powerful, the others may have money and Tony blair may be PM however before any bill becomes law the queen has to give her royal assent. The Queen can, on ministerial advice, pardon or show mercy to those convicted of crimes. In law the Queen as a private person can do no wrong: she is immune from civil or criminal proceedings and cannot be sued in courts of law. Foreign diplomatic representatives in London are accredited to the Queen, and she has the power to conclude treaties, to declare war and to make peace, to recognise foreign states and governments and to annex and cede territory. The Queen summons, prorogues (discontinues until the next session without dissolving) and dissolves Parliament.

Powerful enough?

[Bangkok]

The Queen is a good example of theoretical power - if she actually exercised it the chances are the UK would be a republic shortly thereafter.  There were rumours that she really objected to some legislation under the Thatcher Govt, but signed it anyway.

Murdoch is scary, as there are so few checks and balances and his (editors) editorials seem to have so much influence on UK opinion.  On that basis, he seems to be the most powerful.

 

[NapoleonSolo]

Murdoch - definitely the most powerful. He dictates the general direction his papers take on major issues, e.g. The Sun being Anti-European & Nationalistic. Blair had an audience with Murdoch before the 97 election, it is pretty obvious he went there cap in hand to broacher a deal with the "great man" as the Sun  came out in support of Labour very shortly afterwards.

[ursula62]

George Bush - let's face it TB just does what he's told these days.

[booksworth]

How about the bloke who owns Tesco - Cohen I think his name is. Has most of the country queueing up to give him money.

[Octavius]

Max Clifford seems to have a lot of influence....

[twiglet4frog]

Bush, how many other people in this country has the power to order 850 men to death triangle so that his own men can go and blow something new up?

Remember that we are killing our own not for our/iraq's reasons but because Bush wanted them there instead of his