Backbencher

Common card · No. 313401

In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the "rank and file". The term "backbencher" dates from 1855, and is derived from the benches at the back of the British House of Commons, where non-ministerial MPs sit. A backbencher may be a new parliamentary member yet to receive a high office, a senior figure dropped from government, someone who for whatever reason is not chosen to sit in the government or an opposition spokesperson (such as a shadow cabinet if one exists), or someone who prefers to be a background influence, not in the spotlight. In most parliamentary systems, individual backbenchers have little power to affect government policy. However, they play a greater role in the work of the legislature itself; for example, sitting on parliamentary committees, where legislation is considered and...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Herry Lawford, CC BY 2.0