The Crown Dependencies are self-governing possessions of the British Crown, as opposed to overseas territories of the United Kingdom. They comprise the Channel Island Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel, and the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.

Being independently administered jurisdictions, none forms part of the United Kingdom nor of the European Union.

"The Crown" is defined differently in each Crown Dependency. In Jersey, statements in the 21st century of the constitutional position by the Law Officers of the Crown define it as the "Crown in right of Jersey", with all Crown land in the Bailiwick of Jersey belonging to the Crown in right of Jersey and not to the Crown Estate of the United Kingdom. Legislation of the Isle of Man defines the "Crown in right of the Isle of Man" as being separate from the "Crown in right of the United Kingdom". In Guernsey, legislation refers to the "Crown in right of the Bailiwick", and the Law Officers of the Crown of Guernsey submitted that "The Crown in this context ordinarily means the Crown in right of the république of the Bailiwick of Guernsey" and that this comprises "the collective governmental and civic institutions, established by and under the authority of the Monarch, for the governance of these Islands, including the States of Guernsey and legislatures in the other Islands, the Royal Court and other courts, the Lieutenant Governor, Parish authorities, and the Crown acting in and through the Privy Council." This constitutional concept is also worded as the "Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey".

Daniel Grian Alexander (born 15 May 1972) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been Chief Secretary to the Treasury since 2010. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency since 2005.

In his first parliamentary term (2005-2010), Alexander was the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, the chief of staff to party leader, Nick Clegg, and Chair of the Liberal Democrat Manifesto Group (2007–2010).

With the 2010 UK general election producing a hung parliament, he played a key role in the four-man Liberal Democrat negotiating team and in the drawing up of the coalition document for the new Coalition Government with the Conservative Party. Alexander was initially appointed Secretary of State for Scotland, but at the end of May 2010, he was promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, following the resignation of David Laws.

Born in Edinburgh, Alexander lived on the island of Colonsay as a boy before his family moved to Glengarry. He was educated at Lochaber High School, Fort William in the Scottish Highlands, before reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at St Anne's College, Oxford.

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He resigned from all of these positions in June 2007.

Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the leadership election of July 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under his leadership, the party used the phrases "New Labour" and "New Socialism" to define its policy, and moved away from its support of state socialism since the 1960s and created a new version of the ethical socialism that was last pursued by Clement Attlee. Critics of Blair claim that "New Labour" did not adhere to socialism as claimed, and that it effectively advocated capitalism. Blair subsequently led Labour to a landslide victory in the 1997 general election. At 43 years old, he became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blair's government implemented a number of 1997 manifesto pledges, introducing the minimum wage, Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and carrying out devolution, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly.