redrobbo Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 No, you don't need to be an MP to be the Prime Minister though it's many years since that happened. I'm not even sure that you need to be in the Lords either. It is completely possible for the unelected Mandleson to be PM. You are correct Tony. The last time this happened was in 1963 when MacMillan resigned as Prime Minister and Sir Alec Douglas-Home suceeded him. Douglas-Home was actually a peer, but used the Peerage Act 1963 (which had allowed Lord Stansgate to resign his peerage and become Tony Benn MP), Douglas-Home fought an engineered by-election to become the MP for Kinross and West Perthshire. Between resigning his peerage and fighting the by-election, Douglas-Home was neither a member of the House of Lords or the House of Commons, but was still Prime Minister, albeit for only a fortnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redrobbo Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 New leader of the Labour Party ? Well, Michael Foot 's no longer amongst those present-----so that rules him out of course. Denis Healey 's a bit over the hill, really. Is Charley Drake still around ? The Beast of Bolsover ? Well, at least he doesn 't accept backhanders---gives 'em out perhaps......but definitely not on the gravy train ! That only leaves John Prescott-----so, ' Come on down, John ! NuLabour need your tact, knowledge & diplomacy in their darkest hour ! ' I know you're living abroad Fareast, so you may be unawares that John Prescott stood down as an MP at this last election. Dennis Skinner, aka the Beast of Bolsover, was re-elected though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyofborg Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 There is no law against having a party leader who isn't an MP. A Prime Minister has to be an MP - Alec Douglas-Home resigned his peerage and a quickie by-election was called so in a safe Tory seat, so that he could take over as PM. Labour rules specify that a party leader must be an MP, and given that the party has serious hopes of winning elections, there is no sensible reason to change them. there is no law that says a member of the lords cant be prime minister, its one of those things thats happened though the way parliament works it would be tricky for a lord to be pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 there is no law that says a member of the lords cant be prime minister, its one of those things thats happened though the way parliament works it would be tricky for a lord to be pm You may be right about it not being written in law, but it's clear that in practice a PM has to be an MP; Alec Douglas-Home's incident is the evidence for that. As redrobbo says (and I'd forgotten), he was PM during the few weeks it took to arrange his seat in the Commons, but I don't think he would have been allowed to remain PM if he had failed to gain a seat there. So far as Labour goes it's a moot point, since they only allow MPs to become party leader. I don't think either the Tories or Lib-Dems would be mad enough to open themselves to accusations of "a PM who wasn't even elected by a constituency, let alone the country as a whole;" but I still believe that, if they were, it wouldn't be allowed by modern protocol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fareast Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Well, as you say, Redrobbo, Mr. Prescott stood down----but, apparently from what you & Tony have said, there may be some way he can ' fiddle ' his way into the top job ? After all, a lot of rules, guidelines, regulations.....etc.....have been broken by lots of politicians these past few years, so I don 't think anyone would notice......or care....! So, perhaps, like Frank Sinatra, Ol' John P. could make one last bid, to be, surely, where he rightfully belongs-------Leader of the Pack ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 I think the Labour leadership will be a straight fight between Milliband and Balls. Blairite vs. Brownite. Sounds like a comedy duo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 So, from the above the upshot seems that I was correct; The only thing stopping Mandelson becoming the leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister are the Labour Party rules (pah, easy meat) and the threat of invasion by the combined forces of NATO and the Eastern Bloc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizzle Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 OOOOOooOOOOh I hope it is David Miliband. He HOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoddyHolder Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 why would they want to change the rules. And why would Labour possibly want Mandelson, or anybody else closely associated with the genesis of New Labour as leader? this will be the only Labour leadership election since 1980 where there's the slightest doubt as to who will win. Kinnock was a shoo in, Smith was a shoo in whose main opponent wasn't even British and cleared off back to New Zealand when he lost. Blair also a shoo in, even if Brown had run against him, he would have still won it easily. Bit unfair on Smith,I reckon he would have been up there with the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Glypta Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Esdit: * which means my vote is up for grabs in the leadership contest! To**er or wan**r. Its a close call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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