Theresa May will be UK Prime Minister by Wednesday this week

[auntpurl]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-36570120

Weird, isn't it? As an American living in the UK, I always find it strange they can just switch PMs when the party decides. It would be as if halfway through a President's term in the US, they took a little poll of party leadership and just installed someone else.

Theresa May is another Tory (Conservative). She's become PM basically by standing still and not making an ass of herself, something none of the other contenders managed to do.

[rurallib]

1. Any idea what she will be like or if there may be an election?

Nice to have brexit dumped in her lap like that.

[auntpurl]

2. She's a Conservative in the Cameron model

Anti-immigration but not a UKIP fascist. She nominally supported Remain, but it seemed much more for political expediency than any strongly-held belief in the EU. She's got plenty of experience and is seen as a "safe pair of hands" by the Conservatives. She's pro-market and a bit nationalistic.

I'm guessing she'll be fairly Thatcher-esque, and she's already said "Brexit means Brexit" which is rather funny since the term is made up. So she will be ushering us through the EU negotiations.

Regarding a GE, Labour's called for one but the party really needs to get its shit together before anyone will take it too seriously, and honestly there doesn't seem to be much support for it. I think the country would like to stop having horrifying politics for a bloody week or so.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. how often does a PM resign with no call for dissolution of parliament, resulting in a new

election? has that all changed since they went to the 5 year election cycle?

or is it just because the Tories are still in power, and would win any no-confidence vote?

A general election must take place before each parliamentary term begins. Since the maximum term of a parliament is five years, the interval between successive general elections can exceed that period by no more than the combined length of the election campaign and the time for the new parliament to assemble (a total of typically around four weeks). The five years runs from the first meeting of Parliament following the election.

After the 2010 general election, the coalition government enacted the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 which set fixed term parliaments of five years. Thus the next general election was held on 7 May 2015, with subsequent elections held every five years thereafter on the first Thursday in May. However the Act also contains provisions for Parliament to be dissolved and an early election held if no government can be formed within 14 days after a vote of no confidence in the government. Similarly, the Act allows for an election to be triggered by a vote of two-thirds of MPs in the House of Commons calling for one.[80]

The Prime Minister asks the Monarch to dissolve Parliament by Royal Proclamation. The Proclamation also orders the issue of the formal Writs of Election which require an election to be held in each constituency. The election is held 17 working days after the date of the Proclamation, as regulated by the Representation of the People Act 1983, s. 23 and Schedule 1 ("Parliamentary election rules&quot , rule 1 ("Timetable&quot .

I'd be super pissed if I were a citizen there, and this idiotic move by Cameron had the result it did.

why no general election?

thx

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. General elections due to a PM resignation are rare

Gordon Brown didn't call one in 1997 (he waited until the full 5 year term was up in 2010); John Major didn't in 1990 (he waited the full 5 years until 1992); James Callaghan didn't in 1976 (he tried to wait the full 5 years, but suffered a no-confidence vote a few months before that in May 1979). Alec Douglas-Home didn't in 1963 (he waited the 5 years until 1964, though he did disclaim his peerage and stood in a safe Tory seat in a by-election (the sitting MP had just died)). Harold Macmillan didn't in 1957; he waited until 1959, a little over 4 years into the term.

The last incoming PM to call an election at once was Anthony Eden, in 1955. He increased the Tory majority, and then caused the Suez disaster, and resigned.

[Bad Dog]

6. There was no general election either when Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair

or John Major took over from Margaret Thatcher.

The 5 year rule is pretty meaningless. The party with the most seats is elected for a maximum of five years anyway, they decide when to call an election. Cameron's attempt to have fixed term parliaments still may not apply.

Sorry, came across your post looking for something else.

[msongs]

5. "House of Cards" - the UK version is far superior w/Sir Ian Richardson nt