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Our next unelected PM?

JoeMorgue said:
So wait in the UK if a Prime Minister steps down only people from his party get to vote on the next one?

Like functionally equivalent to if Trump were to resigned right now only registered Republicans would be able to vote on the next President?

That's... weird.
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You are just looking at it the wrong way. The head of state is the Queen for the UK (Monarchy) or the President of the USA (elected). The Prime Minister is the equivalent of the USA leader of the House. Since the head of state in the USA is elected, he has more power than the head of state of the UK, who, over time, has become more of a figure head than anything else. Just imagine if the President of the USA was like the head of state of other countries that also have an elected president who actually has very little power. Then the Leader of the House would be in effect the leader of the USA.
 
Shankly said:
It was nice of Donald Trump to be so complementary about Boris - here's Boris giving his opinion of Trump

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...e-that-makes-him-unfit-to-be-us-a6766871.html
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In the same way that President Trump easily reverses his opinion and insists that he never held any previous positions, Boris Johnson has recently become (and has always been) a Trump fan :rolleyes:

Boris Johnson has lavished praise on Donald Trump, saying the US president has "many, many good qualities" and lauding his record in office.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...rship-migration-mexico-border-b-a8980496.html
 
a_unique_person said:
You are just looking at it the wrong way. The head of state is the Queen for the UK (Monarchy) or the President of the USA (elected). The Prime Minister is the equivalent of the USA leader of the House. Since the head of state in the USA is elected, he has more power than the head of state of the UK, who, over time, has become more of a figure head than anything else. Just imagine if the President of the USA was like the head of state of other countries that also have an elected president who actually has very little power. Then the Leader of the House would be in effect the leader of the USA.
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Prime Minister has both legislative and executive power all rolled in to one.

Queeny has no power at all.
 
Gavin Barwell MP just now on @bbcr4today said that Johnson has a clear mandate to try his approach on Brexit.

Where is this 'mandate' supposed to be from?
Not parliament or the electorate.
 
It's been flagged that Priti Patel is going to be Home Secretary.
That's a woman that was fired from her last cabinet post for colluding with a foreign State to finance its military, who has suggested starving Ireland to get Brexit and is an ardent supporter of the death penalty.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
It's been flagged that Priti Patel is going to be Home Secretary.
That's a woman that was fired from her last cabinet post for colluding with a foreign State to finance its military, who has suggested starving Ireland to get Brexit and is an ardent supporter of the death penalty.
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Sounds like exactly the kind of Home Secretary we should have in the post-Brexit return-to-Empire UK :rolleyes:
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Gavin Barwell MP just now on @bbcr4today said that Johnson has a clear mandate to try his approach on Brexit.

Where is this 'mandate' supposed to be from?
Not parliament or the electorate.
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From the only 120,000 people that matter, the Conservatives who voted in their leadership election.....
 
Sturgeon also became leader of the SNP unopposed when Salmond resigned, and was duly rubber-stamped First Minister of Scotland.

It seems that if we want a properly elected leader, we need to adopt a presidential system like the USA has, and then we can have a leader that everyone agrees was democratically chosen. :D

It seems that amongst leaders that aren't called 'president', Boris was chosen more democratically than most.

The EU, as always, is an outlier - they call their leader 'president' but have a very undemocratic method of choosing that president.
 
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ceptimus said:
Sturgeon also became leader of the SNP unopposed when Salmond resigned, and was duly rubber-stamped First Minister of Scotland.
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Nope. She was elected to the post by the members of the Scottish Parliament in a contest against Ruth Davidson.

It seems that amongst leaders that aren't called 'president', Boris was chosen more democratically than most.
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Nope. Not in the slightest

The EU, as always, is an outlier - they call their leader 'president' but have a very undemocratic method of choosing that president.
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Not less democratic than Boris that's for sure.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
You don't seem to understand why the number of people voting is less important than representation.

EU Leader was voted for by the parliament, the MPs and selected by a representative committee.

Boris was selected by Tory MPs and voted for by party members.
Yes, he won the vote to be leader of a political party.

How, in any kind of fair and rational representative democracy does that make him leader of the government?
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Because his party's in power. It's quite simple, actually. If the US did away with the Presidency, who do you think would be leader of the country?
 
Archie Gemmill Goal said:
Nope. She was elected to the post by the members of the Scottish Parliament in a contest against Ruth Davidson.
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You're being disingenuous. Although, in theory, the Scottish Parliament could choose any member as their leader, in practice it is always the leader of the largest party that is rubber-stamped as First Minister. It's the same system (with the same results) that operates at Westminster - in theory Westminster could choose any MP as Prime Minister, but they only ever choose the leader of the largest party.

By your reasoning, Boris will be elected to the post of Prime Minister by members of the House of Commons in a contest against Jeremy Corbyn.
 
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