As everyone knows, the UK has no written constitution. It has a dog's dinner of convention instead.
One such convention is that we have a prime minister. They are the person, supposedly selected by the monarch, who has most chance of commanding the confidence of the House of Commons, meaning that they can form a government.
This week Rishi Sunak may not be able to demonstrate that the House has that confidence in him on an issue that he claims is sufficiently important to require emergency legislation.
Where would failure leave Rishi Sunak? In the dog's dinner, I suspect.
The only problem is, I also suspect there is no one else able to command that confidence.
As I have said before, a new year's election anyone?
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When I saw the headline I thought the “dog’s dinner ” would refer to the excuse he will use later today…..
“The dog ate my homework!”
🙂
I thought the dog ate his Whatsapps, and Boris’s too.
He’s left it too late to avoid his stint at the covid inquiry, which starts 10.30 today.
If he were sensible (!) he would resign now and have an election before all the disparate independent groups get their acts together and get registered with the electoral commission, although I understand that is not necessary.
Has there ever been a general election in the heart of winter? Not terribly good for old folks in particular to get out & vote, & we all know who they’re most likely to vote for. Combined with the fact that ‘staying at home’ will be a likely response of many traditional Tory voters to the current shower, giving such a demographic the further excuse of bad weather seems stupid even for the Tories. They’ve got nothing to lose by hanging on to the very last minute, & much to gain, whether by filling their boots or torching the earth for Labour, as in any case it’s their last taste of power for a very long time….
December 2019, as I recall.
To be fair to Mark, 2019 seems a political lifetime ago!
Strange that I’ve completely blotted that catastrophe memory! I can’t even think of the blonde bombsite as ever having been PM… But the coldest& most miserable months of the year are January & February… So maybe they’ll choose them to finally bring a bit of joy to the country by allowing us to cast them into political oblivion…
🙂
Wish I could blot it out. We ended up with a tory MP for the first time ever. He did so well that the constituency is disappearing at the next election!
That’s when I signed up to a postal vote.
I wasn’t going to miss my vote just because of the weather.
28 February 1974
February 1974
The House rises about the 19th and re-convenes 8th Jan.
If he can get through the second reading but not the third (when is that?) and declares a general election in January then wwe are looking at the second half of February.
Just speculation on my part.
Apart from the two elections in 1974 (February and October) and December 2019, every election in the last 50 years has been in either April, May or June.
Thanks
Your words make me realise that most of our democracy in this country is merely symbolic and nothing but a thin veneer masking the iron grip of wealth whose own symbol is the monarchy.
It’s pretty pathetic when you think about it.
The Tories have long since reached the stage where the most despicable option is always the one they are most likely to go for so presumably a three-way fight for next PM between Johnson, Truss and Lord Dave?
Can Lord Dave be PM?
I really don’t think so, because he cannot command the Commons
Yes, Cameron could be Prime Minister. It’s only convention that says not.
“The last to do so was the 14th Earl of Home in 1963, who disclaimed his peerage within a few days of being *appointed* as Prime Minister to fight a by-election to sit in the Commons.”
Wikipedia, my emphasis.
Thus not only a peer as PM but a PM not even in the Commons.
(I think the Conservatives changed the method of selecting their Leader under Douglas-Hume’s guidance, but the convention still remains as a non-binding convention.)
You don’t think 4-way? I’d have thought Braverman would be having a tilt at it, too.
God forbid no.
Re:- Jenw says: 10:34 am
“That’s when I signed up to a postal vote. I wasn’t going to miss my vote just because of the weather.”
I agree with Jenw… also ill health or pressure of work can prevent you voting in person. Registering for a postal vote leaves open the option of handing in your postal ballot paper at any Polling Station within your constituency.
We don’t trust postal votes in Scotland because we don’t trust the British State.