Timeline for Can a Prime Minister be appointed if they do not have a seat in the Parliament?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2022 at 22:03 | comment | added | user36423 | @PeterTaylor Alec Douglas-Home avoided the PMQs issue by proroguing Parliament for the duration of the period while he was disclaiming his peerage and fighting his by-election. I suspect these days, the Supreme Court wouldn't allow that. | |
| Dec 12, 2019 at 14:09 | comment | added | Steve Melnikoff | @fedorqui: BBC suggests that they are appointed once at a time. | |
| Dec 12, 2019 at 14:08 | comment | added | Steve Melnikoff | @fedorqui: people can be appointed en masse; according to the list, on 17 Dec 1985, 8 MPs were appointed at once. It's not clear if they were appointed to the role together, or one after the other. Either way, the effect is the same. | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 22:10 | comment | added | fedorqui | @SteveMelnikoff but is the Chiltern Hundreds title available for just a person at any given time or can many share it? I mean: what if multiple MPs want to resign at the same time? | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 15:06 | comment | added | Peter Taylor | @SteveMelnikoff, the current Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds is an MP who was nominated to a life peerage in Theresa May's resignation honours. Don't ask me why it was necessary for him to take the Hundreds, because I don't know. | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 13:37 | comment | added | Jan | So sad to have found out that the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds is no longer the guy from Sinn Féin … that was such an amusing side-effect of this legal fiction. | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 13:14 | comment | added | Steve Melnikoff | It's been suggested that if an MP were to vacate a seat for the PM, that MP would be given a life peerage as a reward. This would automatically disqualify them as an MP, as you can't be a member of both the House of Lords and the Commons at the same time. | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 11:56 | comment | added | Peter Taylor | @fedorqui, as an additional complication, party rules are also relevant. I'd have to find the Labour rules, because they have a more defined fallback system than the Tories and it might say that in that scenario the deputy party leader would take over. It is worth noting that the Cabinet Manual does say that the PM is usually the leader of the largest party in the government; in principle the PM could be a member of a smaller party who wasn't the leader of that party, or even an independent in an unusual coalition. | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 11:40 | comment | added | fedorqui | Ah right because Boris Johnson is the current PM and will remain as that until a new one is appointed. So what about more generally: what if Labs won and Corbyn didn't have a seat? (which was a bit more on my question, to check how this works in theory, not in this specific case). Thanks for your feedback, I know I am asking a lot in comments :D | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 11:06 | comment | added | Peter Taylor | @fedorqui, he would continue as PM (although I'm not sure what would happen to Prime Minister's Questions - probably another minister would take his place in the interim). If he lost a second by-election in a seat that was supposed to be safe, I would expect a motion of no confidence (internally in the party, in the House of Commons, or both). | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 10:57 | comment | added | fedorqui | So based on your answer: it would not be possible and would need to have Boris Johnson elected in another constituency? Would that mean waiting several weeks due to all the bureaucracy attached to organising a by-election, so in the meanwhile the prime minister wouldn't be appointed? | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 10:57 | comment | added | Dan Scally | @fedorqui correct. | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 10:54 | comment | added | fedorqui | I assume well in that 'taking the Chiltern Hundreds' referers to the legal fiction used to resign from the House of Commons (source)? | |
| Dec 11, 2019 at 10:50 | history | answered | Peter Taylor | CC BY-SA 4.0 |