Britain also has an unelected House of Lords, which has a number of functions—many of them historic, and none of them spelt out in any constitution. Britain, uniquely, has no written constitution. Repeated attempts to reform this have failed, with the last under Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1999 leaving 92 hereditary peers, who are there simply because they were born inheriting a title. It is likely that further reform is called for, with some means of electing members of the upper house, rather than having them appointed politically.

Levels of inequality in the UK remain worryingly high. Estimates of child poverty are still put more than 1 million children in households that are dependent on state aid, with no economically productive family member. Teenage pregnancies are amongst the highest in Europe. While the UK excels at elite education, primary and secondary schools in the state sector, which educate more than 93 percent of British children, have to fight against a small number of private schools that charge fees of up to $45,000 a year. In fact, 75 percent of British judges, more than half of students at the elite Oxford and Cambridge, and more than 70 percent of British solicitors are from private schools. Of the current cabinet running the British Government, more than half went to private schools and then Oxford or Cambridge. Both Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg were educated at elite fee-paying schools—Eton and Westminster, respectively. If race is the greatest area of contention and sensitivity in the United States, then class remains a battleground in the UK. Ironically, it might be a government led by an old Etonian who will finally be able to do something about this.

Foreign relations

Britain's foreign affairs policy will not change dramatically. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in this coalition have radically different views on the role of the EU, with the former being highly skeptical, expressing fears of the EU becoming a kind of super state, challenging British sovereignty, and the Liberal Democrats being highly pro-Europe, even arguing "under the right conditions," the UK might join the Euro zone. No one at the moment, however, wants a fight over this issue, especially in view of what has happened in Greece. David Lidington, a Conservative with highly positive views of the EU, has been appointed the lead Foreign Office minister with responsibility for Europe as a sign that the Labor Party policy of engagement and involvement will continue. New Foreign Secretary William Hague, a close ally of Cameron and a previous leader of the Conservative Party, made his first foreign visit to Washington D.C. on May 15. U.S. President Barack Obama was the first foreign leader to call Cameron to congratulate him on becoming prime minister. The UK will, therefore, continue to seek balancing its role in the EU, with its need to work on a special relationship with the United States, no matter how illusive or frustrating that sometimes is.

A Liberal Democrat with excellent credentials, Chris Huhne has been given the environment portfolio. This means that the stance of the former Labor government on climate change and carbon emissions is unlikely to change. The UK will have a big problem, however, in the coming years. It's reliance on gas pumped from the North Sea for much of its energy is now likely to shift back to coal and petrol, increasing its carbon emissions at a time when it is mean to be trying to reduce these. There is also the shared problem with other economies—how to create a green economy at a time of economic austerity.

For China, Hague has already talked before becoming foreign secretary of viewing China as an "important" and major relationship. It is true he didn't use the words set out in the EU policy toward China of seeing it as a "strategic partner." But now in power, he will probably start to think that way. He visited China last December and has met key figures in the Chinese leadership. The policy of engagement under the Labor government will continue. Perhaps now, too, there will be more thought about having at least one major bilateral area of cooperation that will prove what both countries can do with each other. Chinese investment in the UK has gone up, but as yet there has been nothing major or headline grabbing. There are areas of cooperation across the scale. But there now needs to be something bigger to represent all the work both sides have done.

Cameron's priorities in the next year will be to make the coalition work. To do that, he needs to act on the economy. He has his work cut out. But he knows that the UK cannot do this in isolation and so his government will seek to define its core international interests early on. It wants more investment for job creation. It wants to find more export markets for goods manufactured in the UK—it is often forgotten that the UK is the world's sixth largest exporter. It wants action on climate change because of public opinion in the UK. It also wants to continue the pressure on international terrorism and trans-border crime.

Cameron might move to reassert a stronger and more dominant role for the UK in Europe, despite the skeptics in his party. He might also want to be more ambitious in the relationship with China and India. Whatever he does, he is likely to be extremely pragmatic. Britain remains in a dangerous position economically, and that affects its politics. He is unlikely to be as adventurous in his foreign policy as Tony Blair was—but with George W. Bush now gone from the White House, U.S. demands outside of Afghanistan are not likely to be great. Only if Iran or North Korea does something unexpected, will he need to reconsider things. At the moment, while he establishes the new coalition and starts to sort out the economy in the UK, the international status quo will suit him just fine.

The author is a senior research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in Britain

(The viewpoints in this article do not necessarily represent those of Beijing Review)