Resource help on British politics?
Setting: modern day UK
Searches: um, kind of what I need help with
Basically, I plan to write a modern AU fanfic, including a Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister's son. (This is Merlin fic to be exact, Prince!Arthur and PM's-Son!Merlin, with, obviously, King Uther, and less obviously, PM Hunith, Merlin's mother).
Problem #1 - I'm American.
Problem #2 - this is a fic that's going to involve a lot of politics, among other things, ranging from political parties to elections to royalty to Parliament-Royalty interaction to, well, a whole lot of stuff, half of which I may end up making up anyway (I don't know yet whether or not this will be a magic AU), but whatever I don't make up I want to be as accurate as possible.
I can hear the groans already, and that's why I'm asking for your help - I have no clue where the hell to start. While I probably still will come here with tons of questions, I would like to be able to simply reference articles/pages/what have you as I plan my story and do my research. But, politics in general are very, well, charged, and just searching for things results in a lot of biased results. Especially in recent political tensions that seem to pervade every nation around the world, at the moment.
So that still leaves me clueless, and still no clue where to start. I've even searched through the "britain" tags, but that is rather limited as most things are specific requests, and what I'm asking for is very broad, and more resources than direct information.
Does anyone have some relatively neutral resources on British politics? i.e. rules, regulations, but also largely social and political culture? Particularly resources for Americans? (Though I'll take anything at this point). Royalty, parliament, voting, parties, what-have-you, just something where I can get an agenda-less overview, or at least a resource where the agenda/bias is clear so I know what to avoid/look out for, so I can at least roughly plan my story, and perhaps have more specific questions/requests for this comm later?
For a vague idea of what I am looking to do (and perhaps hints as to what kinds of resources I'm looking for)
This story ultimately surrounds the bonding (and, admittedly, eventual slash) between the prince and the PM's. Idea is that the King, Uther - who recently became king around the same time as the new party/PM was elected in, as the old queen's death happened right around then - wants to be more politically active than his late mother, and somehow I plan to have this somehow involve light Prince-Son interaction*. They become very close, however, when they are kidnapped together, then rescued, as young children. The main part of the story takes place ten years later, when they are vulnerable in an unprecedented way when they start uni together (yes, they're the same age), and kidnapped again, this time with a darker intent/theme to it. Cue lots of angst and fluff and tons of action and some slash along the way, and this time instead of getting rescued they just rescue themselves and are epic and badass and all that. :D
* = Would this even be remotely feasible? I know the real, current queen is apparently supposed to have no political opinion, at least in public - is this a law? A social/cultural norm or expectation? Some combination? Has it always been enforced or is it possible for it to not be enforced in a modern setting?
Any and all help would be much appreciated. I seriously just don't know how to go about this kind of search or where to start to look for/learn all this, so even a few hints or starting points will be much appreciated.
Searches: um, kind of what I need help with
Basically, I plan to write a modern AU fanfic, including a Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister's son. (This is Merlin fic to be exact, Prince!Arthur and PM's-Son!Merlin, with, obviously, King Uther, and less obviously, PM Hunith, Merlin's mother).
Problem #1 - I'm American.
Problem #2 - this is a fic that's going to involve a lot of politics, among other things, ranging from political parties to elections to royalty to Parliament-Royalty interaction to, well, a whole lot of stuff, half of which I may end up making up anyway (I don't know yet whether or not this will be a magic AU), but whatever I don't make up I want to be as accurate as possible.
I can hear the groans already, and that's why I'm asking for your help - I have no clue where the hell to start. While I probably still will come here with tons of questions, I would like to be able to simply reference articles/pages/what have you as I plan my story and do my research. But, politics in general are very, well, charged, and just searching for things results in a lot of biased results. Especially in recent political tensions that seem to pervade every nation around the world, at the moment.
So that still leaves me clueless, and still no clue where to start. I've even searched through the "britain" tags, but that is rather limited as most things are specific requests, and what I'm asking for is very broad, and more resources than direct information.
Does anyone have some relatively neutral resources on British politics? i.e. rules, regulations, but also largely social and political culture? Particularly resources for Americans? (Though I'll take anything at this point). Royalty, parliament, voting, parties, what-have-you, just something where I can get an agenda-less overview, or at least a resource where the agenda/bias is clear so I know what to avoid/look out for, so I can at least roughly plan my story, and perhaps have more specific questions/requests for this comm later?
For a vague idea of what I am looking to do (and perhaps hints as to what kinds of resources I'm looking for)
This story ultimately surrounds the bonding (and, admittedly, eventual slash) between the prince and the PM's. Idea is that the King, Uther - who recently became king around the same time as the new party/PM was elected in, as the old queen's death happened right around then - wants to be more politically active than his late mother, and somehow I plan to have this somehow involve light Prince-Son interaction*. They become very close, however, when they are kidnapped together, then rescued, as young children. The main part of the story takes place ten years later, when they are vulnerable in an unprecedented way when they start uni together (yes, they're the same age), and kidnapped again, this time with a darker intent/theme to it. Cue lots of angst and fluff and tons of action and some slash along the way, and this time instead of getting rescued they just rescue themselves and are epic and badass and all that. :D
* = Would this even be remotely feasible? I know the real, current queen is apparently supposed to have no political opinion, at least in public - is this a law? A social/cultural norm or expectation? Some combination? Has it always been enforced or is it possible for it to not be enforced in a modern setting?
Any and all help would be much appreciated. I seriously just don't know how to go about this kind of search or where to start to look for/learn all this, so even a few hints or starting points will be much appreciated.