ShadyAidyX t1_itn9n8x wrote on October 24, 2022 at 10:02 PM

Bravo! He’ll also make history as the sixth unelected prime minister without a mandate in my limited memory of voting

Major, Brown, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak

And yes, I know we don’t vote for PM’s, but nevertheless a significant portion of the public vote for the figurehead, not just the party or the constituency

ro55mo t1_itp8vyv wrote on October 25, 2022 at 9:05 AM

The way I look at it is we have the letter and spirit of democracy.

The letter of UK democracy has been obeyed for sure.

In terms of the spirit of the democracy, they are pissing in our faces.

ilovelemondrizzle t1_itnbsf1 wrote on October 24, 2022 at 10:18 PM

Well to be fair if you can have as big an impact as Truss, I think it should warrant an election - despite the argument that you vote for the party and not the leader.

That being said, at least May and Johnson called an election to solidify their premiership. I recognise that won’t happen now given their poor standings but there you go.

ShadyAidyX t1_itndglc wrote on October 24, 2022 at 10:30 PM

Very true. It’s been such a harsh few years in politics that I’d almost completely forgotten that they’d called elections

I’m with you - the Leader of the country makes up such a significant part of the ruling parties psyche that any change of leadership means that fundamentally, the party itself is not the one that was voted into office. A GE should be required by law under these circumstances

All this talk of mandates is bullshit. Calling a GE is the only mandate inherited with a change of leader under these circumstances

Volcic-tentacles t1_itp0wc4 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 7:08 AM

No Prime Minister is ever elected. Because the UK voting system is not presidential. You vote for your local candidate and the party with the most candidates appoints their leader as PM and that PM appoints the cabinet of ministers. Prime Ministers are all appointed. And changing midterm is almost as common as not.

Take the time to properly look at your ballet in 2025. You won't see the PM's name on that ballet unless you vote in their constituency. Never has been on the ballet. Likely never will be in your lifetime.

ShadyAidyX t1_itp3vyl wrote on October 25, 2022 at 7:51 AM

As you keep pointing out (and as I also mentioned)

The system is to vote for the party. Many people vote for the person, not just the party

In many places where politics is discussed in public, the discussion is often of the leaders, not the parties - “well, BoJo is a geezer, innit? Top bloke!” or “Starmer is a boring git, wouldn’t share a pint with ‘im” or “Corbyn will send us back to the 70’s” or “Blair is such a breath of fresh air” or “Cameron is such a modern leader compared to Tories of old”