 Compared to this , the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes by the unions is minuscule . This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the International Monetary Fund secured cuts in our public expenditure . ... These [ four ] lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them . Parliamentary democracy is , in truth , little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team , which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact . If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is , and some new Chartist agitation might be born and might quickly gather momentum . 
