General elections did not have fixed dates, as parliament was summoned and dissolved within the royal prerogative, although on the advice of the ministers of the Crown.

The Whigs included many of the leading aristocratic dynasties who were most committed to the Protestant settlement of the throne, with later support from the emerging industrial interests and rich city merchants, while the Tories were associated with the landed gentry, the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.

In the case of the rotten and pocket boroughs, a majority of the votes was usually controlled by one person, or by a small group.

This gave less power to organized political parties and more to influential individuals, some of whom had themselves elected in the constituencies they controlled.

Much of the civil administration of rural England was carried out by informal, unelected parish councils known as vestries, with criminal matters dealt with by Quarter Sessions and magistrates, and similar arrangements in Scotland.