The Moron's Guide to British Politics

The sheer ignorance of the British people never ceases to astound me. During all this recent furore about Tony Blair's future, I was dismayed to hear that old refrain from the vox pops on radio and TV news to the effect "shouldn't us voters have a say in who succeeds Blair as PM?" Well, actually no. As you would know if you took any interest whatsoever in our electoral system. When you vote at a general election, you are voting to elect a parliament not a government, and certainly not a Prime Minister. In fact, to be entirely accurate, when you cast your vote, you are voting to elect an individual member of parliament to represent your constituency for the term of said parliament. The Prime Minister is selected by parliament, in that they are the person who can command the support of the majority of MPs, (which, in practice, usually means the leader of the largest party in the Commons).

So, clearly, when a Prime Minister steps down before a parliament's normal five year term has ended, there is no need for another general election, so long as a successor can be found who also commands a majority of support in the commons. Again, in practice this is usually whoever replaces the out-going PM as leader of the majority party. The sad thing is, that much of what I've just written will come as a surprise to a hell of a lot of average Britons. Quite appallingly, they have absolutely no idea of what they are voting for come general elections. I find this situation shameful! However, I don't find it that surprising, having taught politics to 16-18 year olds. It is quite disturbing how many of these kids have made it to the verge of voting age in complete ignorance of our system of parliamentary democracy.

Enough lessons for today! Maybe tomorrow we'll move on to the Middle East and how to solve its political problems...