As the western world urges the middle east to embrace democracy, we turn the tables and look at democracy in the west, asking is it right to call Britain a democracy?
Most people tend to believe that a country either has democracy or doesn’t, and that there’s a dividing line between those countries that do have it and those that don’t. However, in reality things aren’t that simple and when we look at things in detail, it would appear that there are actually many shades of democracy, with some countries being more democratic than others.
To illustrate this point we should look at Britain. Britain is a country that prides itself upon being a democratic nation and the people of Britain see their country as being one of the leading lights of the free world. However when we look at the British system of government we can see that this belief is in truth questionable and that the notion of British democracy is hypocritical at best.
For a start there is the British royal family, a family that acquire their status as heads of state, not from elections, but from tradition and privilege. This idea that some members of society are more important than others runs contrary to the democratic notion that all men are equal, yet it is inherent in the British system of government.
Another area of British government that is open to criticism is the House of Lords. The House of Lords has the power to block and amend laws passed by parliament and is an integral mechanism in the machinery of British politics, yet it too is undemocratic. The members of the House of Lords aren’t voted upon by the British people and consequently derive their power from somewhere other than the electorate. In 21st Century politics this situation is simply unacceptable, yet any changes to it are coming slowly, if at all.
Other areas of the government that are less than democratic are the secret services (MI5 and MI6) and the Bank of England. The secret services operate largely outside the public eye and it’s only the top members of government that have any genuine interface with these organizations, leaving the average politician, along with the average man on the street, almost completely in the dark. How can we be sure these departments are driven by democracy when there’s so little accountability to the general public?
Finally, it’s quite interesting to see how British politicians and the British media will openly criticize other countries, such as Iran and China for not embracing western democracy, yet when it comes to turning the focus on their own government they are strangely silent. Maybe British politicians should get their own house in order before they start invading other countries in the name of democracy.
It's easy to criticize something that's happening on the other side of the world, but it is much harder to criticize something that's happening on your own doorstep. That takes guts, guts it would seem British politicians and the British media don't have. To call Britain a democratic country is only half-right and when it comes to democracy, half-right simply isn't good enough.

The monarchy and house of lords are not the big problems.
1. Things like how your child can be taken away from you, and no newspaper, radio or TV station can legally report on the story because of the way the family courts work, and the fact judges have the right to (intellectually) urinate on the freedoms of the press through things like so called "Super Injunctions".
2. Cross party co-operation between all 3 major parties over all issues has now become so epidemic now denied 60 million people almost any choice at all over even a big issue like Europe. I think if the Lib dems had been in 2nd place they would have supported the war in Iraq, and whoever would be in third would be allowed to gather the votes for opposing it.
3. The way we (unlike most countries) lack a Constitution that gives us the right to have a referendum over any issue whatsoever (no matter how serious it may be).
4. A bulk owned media that inflicts damage on any democracy in the world which has the misfortune of it's presence.
5. The sacking of civil servants who perform a public service by revealing government conspiracy-scandal (they're employment tribunal should have the right to appeal to a Jury too!)
6. Our public enquiry system which virturally sacked the BBC Director General Greg Dyke by concluding the government haden't sexed up the Iraq intelligence, when all the evidence said they had proves our public enquiry system is rotten because the people who head it are chosen by politicans, rather than by say a public jury.
7. We probably murder, or have murdered irritating people like Dr Kelly.
8. That you can be denied a job because of your mental-political beliefs e.g. the BNP.

We clearly still have a operating democratic system where I assume (for the most part) votes indeed fairly counted.
But we no longer have a functional democracy going in, or coming out of it.
So whilst we're still more democratic than say the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, we're no longer much better than say the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So to answer the question; it's yes and no, but sadly, mostly no!!!