[Politics] Every other NEW PM since Heath was appointed without us voting

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Heath GE 1970
Callaghan 1976?
Thatcher GE 1979
Major 1990
Blair GE 1997
Brown 2007?
Cameron GE 2010
May 2016

Sorry to those annoyed by the current NSC parlance, but the bedwetters who are complaining that the PM has not been been elected by the populace should realise that this is the norm in the UK. You vote for a party at a General Election and you accept that if it wins, its leader will automatically be Prime Minister, whosoever that party chooses.
 




nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,575
Gods country fortnightly
Heath GE 1970
Callaghan 1976?
Thatcher GE 1979
Major 1990
Blair GE 1997
Brown 2007
Cameron GE 2010
May 2016

Sorry to those annoyed by the current NSC parlance but the bedwetters who are complaining that the PM has not been been elected by the populace should realise that this is the norm in the UK. You vote for a party at a General Election and you accept that if it wins, its leader will automatically be Prime Minister, whosoever that party chooses.

Were any of these voted for by their party membership and put straight into power?
 


Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
25,926
Harold Wilson won two elections in 1974.
 








Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
30,464
Hove
Heath GE 1970
Callaghan 1976?
Thatcher GE 1979
Major 1990
Blair GE 1997
Brown 2007?
Cameron GE 2010
May 2016

Sorry to those annoyed by the current NSC parlance, but the bedwetters who are complaining that the PM has not been been elected by the populace should realise that this is the norm in the UK. You vote for a party at a General Election and you accept that if it wins, its leader will automatically be Prime Minister, whosoever that party chooses.

Churchill!
 


*Gullsworth*

My Hair is like his hair
Jan 20, 2006
9,351
West...West.......WEST SUSSEX
Blair won an election v Major in 1997 didn't he?

Just noticed your GE next to 4 of that list, so 50% of that list inherited the title instead of voted in at a general election.
 










MattBackHome

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
11,875
Heath GE 1970
Callaghan 1976?
Thatcher GE 1979
Major 1990
Blair GE 1997
Brown 2007?
Cameron GE 2010
May 2016

Sorry to those annoyed by the current NSC parlance, but the bedwetters who are complaining that the PM has not been been elected by the populace should realise that this is the norm in the UK. You vote for a party at a General Election and you accept that if it wins, its leader will automatically be Prime Minister, whosoever that party chooses.

Agree entirely.

There's plenty enough reason to be unhappy about the state of affairs without needing the precise manner of Johnson's ascendency to the big chair.

All that notinmyname guff is precisely that.
 




studio150

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2011
30,233
On the Border
Sorry to those annoyed by the current NSC parlance, but the bedwetters who are complaining that the PM has not been been elected by the populace should realise that this is the norm in the UK. You vote for a party at a General Election and you accept that if it wins, its leader will automatically be Prime Minister, whosoever that party chooses.

But the leader of the party at the time of the General Election has a bearing on the outcome of the result. Yes people should really vote on policies, but do you really believe that given the performance of Mrs May when she did hold an election with her as the leader of the Tories, that her refusal to take part in TV debates, and just repeating 'Strong and Stable' and 'Brexit means Brexit' didn't have any effect, and ensured that the Tory majority was wiped out.

Also look at Brown who was eager in the extreme to get the top job, and then his persona not to mention 'that woman' comment probably put paid to Labour winning the election with him at the elm.

So yes we don't specifically vote in a PM, but clearly who the leader of each party at the time of a General Election plays an ever increasing role.
 








SeagullCrow

Well-known member
May 9, 2008
556
But the leader of the party at the time of the General Election has a bearing on the outcome of the result. Yes people should really vote on policies, but do you really believe that given the performance of Mrs May when she did hold an election with her as the leader of the Tories, that her refusal to take part in TV debates, and just repeating 'Strong and Stable' and 'Brexit means Brexit' didn't have any effect, and ensured that the Tory majority was wiped out.

Also look at Brown who was eager in the extreme to get the top job, and then his persona not to mention 'that woman' comment probably put paid to Labour winning the election with him at the elm.

So yes we don't specifically vote in a PM, but clearly who the leader of each party at the time of a General Election plays an ever increasing role.

This. A general election does give a Prime Minister much more of a political mandate than appointing a leader from within the party membership, whichever way you want to cut it. I accept your point that this is a political convention and the way in which it has always been done (by both main political parties), but you're on a hiding to nothing if you want to suggest that there is equal legitimacy in a PM appointed by just 0.25% of the population as opposed to one elected in a general election.
 
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Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,830
Uffern
Your question indicates that people don't realise this, hence the need for the thread. Callaghan, Major and May all were, and Brown gained power unopposed.

No, Callaghan, Major and May weren't elected by party membership, they were elected by MPs

The big difference with Johnson is that he's the leader of a party without a majority - that, I think, is the first time this has happened (although Callaghan lost his very quickly after losing a number of by-elections)
 




*Gullsworth*

My Hair is like his hair
Jan 20, 2006
9,351
West...West.......WEST SUSSEX
That's why it has GE next to his name - General Election. :wink:

I can see your point you are trying to highlight but the figure is 50% . In a democracy you would have thought a change in leader ship should trigger a GE within 3 months of the new leader taking power to let the voters have their say who they want to run the country. Don't give me this bull about you vote for a set of ideas and a party to run the country so it shouldn't matter who is in charge, it makes an enormous diference who is in charge to the electorate. Anyway it shouldn't matter because although Boris was voted in by the Tory elite I should imagine he has so many dissenters in his own party he will take less than 3 months to fall on his own sword. The Tories are terrified of Jeremy Corbyn and they have just elevated a man who could turn out to be far more unpopular to the general public than Jezza himself.
 




SAC

Well-known member
May 21, 2014
2,631
“It’s the arrogance. It’s the contempt. That’s what gets me. It’s Gordon Brown’s apparent belief that he can just trample on the democratic will of the British people. It’s at moments like this that I think the political world has gone mad, and I am alone in detecting the gigantic fraud.”

BJ on Brown becoming PM without a general election.
 


Sussex Nomad

Well-known member
Aug 26, 2010
18,185
EP
Major won a general election. Assuming this rather confusing thread is aimed somewhere towards that.
 


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