How does the British Prime Minister come to office? (1 Viewer)

[Cees Alons]

The House of Lords itself is, of course, a separate body. They can vote against a law on any grounds, including finding it in violation of the Constitution.


Cees

 

[Yee-Ming]

To the contrary, I think that the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords has often taken executive branches of government to task. But the difficulty with arguing that a law properly passed by Parliament (excluding Law Lords, whom I believe by convention don't vote on legislative bills) is "unconstitutional", is that there is no constitutional fetter on Parliament's power to begin with, unlike the US Constitution. Or at least that's what I vaguely recall from law school nearly 20 years ago, and even then it was only mentioned in passing as part of our own legal history only (we do have a written Constitution, not that anyone cares much about it, and when the ruling party easily has the two-thirds majority required to amend it, it's been changed pretty often...)

I also understand that a law reform committee has recommended the creation of a separate "Supreme Court", to finally get rid of this anomaly. The ultimate anomaly, indeed, is the Lord Chancellor himself, who is a member of all three branches -- head of the judiciary, member of the Cabinet (in effect minister of law/justice), and member of the House of Lords (as a legislative body).

Odd, when I realised this old thread had been revived, I assumed it was because of Gordon Brown's impending elevation to PM.

 

[Cees Alons]

BTW, in the system in my country (which is roughly but certainly not totally equal to the Brit's system) a judge cannot "check" a legally passed bill (which is signed by the Queen) against the Constitution. If it's (legally) there, it's there. If it's in violation of the Constitution, it's supposed not to get there.
I assume (?) the practice is the same in the UK.


Cees

 

[Holadem]

Well in my country, the president says what's up, and that's pretty much the end of that .

--
H - at least till some 15 years ago.

 

[Cees Alons]

(Unfortunately, they generally also say what's down.)


Cees

 

[Marianne]

More info about Tony Blair standing down and some background info about Gordon Brown:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6243558.stm

 

[finalfrontier]

The Brit PM is an appointment by the banker criminals of the City of London & Wall St. Thats the truth, Ruth

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

And by Scottish Prime Minister, I mean MP from a Scottish constituency.

 

[Alex-C]

The Lady of the Lake,...
...her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that Gordon Brown was to carry Excalibur.
That is why he is Prime Minister!

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

 

[BrianB]

It should have been John Smith :-(

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

IIRC it's possible for a member of the House of Lords to be PM too. I wonder who the last such worthy man was.

 

[Cees Alons]

It's the old story. Your name is Peter Rumble, you're an MP for Shrickesham, Devonshire, age 47, when suddenly your great-uncle, the 76th Duke of Wongerfiddeldally (pronounce: "Wuddly") dies without any other heir than ....

Who are you to refuse the title and the vaste posessions? But if you want to stay an MP for your constituency, I believe you will have to!


Cees

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Is Wongerfiddeldally related to the Earl of Flufferdoodle?

But even as recently as 1940, when Chamberlain had to step down many members of the Conservative party preferred Halifax - a member of the House of Lords - to that upstart Churchill. So even at that late a date it was possible for a member of Lords to take over as PM.

 

[Cees Alons]

Wuddly and Fluffy?
No doubt! They go out hunting together.


Cees

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Also Sir Alec Douglas-Home?

 

[PhillJones]

 

[Marianne]

Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I can't believe we made it almost to the end of the first page before the Monty Python jokes started...

 

[Yee-Ming]

As usual, Wikipedia has the answer:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Douglas_Home