07/07/2016 15:56Stephen Tilley

All members of parliament are elected and then appointed by the monarch! Even republican Irishmen in Sinn Fein who never attend as they won't take an oath of loyalty to that monarch.

Party leaders elected by their party members is (by British standards) a recent phenomenon, especially by the Conservative party. Notionally the Queen could appoint whosever she wanted as Prime Minister but parliament would then promptly cut off the money supply until she saw sense.

In short both the monarch and parliament are sovereign. Effectively the monarch acts as a referee should more than one person appear to have the confidence of parliament; the last time this happened was in the early 1930s when various factions needed to be combined into a National (non-party) government.

Of course very little of this is written down; it's all a matter of convention.

   07/07/2016 15:43Stephen Tilley

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36737426

   07/04/2016 10:24charlesf

Thank you. That explains it very well. Only one other thing. Does the Queen usually agree with the person that Parliament selects?

   07/04/2016 10:24charlesf

Thank you. That explains it very well. Only one other thing. Does the Queen usually agree with the person that Parliament selects?

   07/03/2016 15:25Bayoubear

The Conservative Party (in control of Parliament) will select (or elect) a person of their choice for the Queen to officially appoint.

   07/03/2016 08:52charlesf

Did the UK recently change the way a new person becomes Prime Minister? If not 2 of the comments below seem to provide 2 different methods. A comment 2 years ago says that the monarch appoints the Prime Minister. Another comment from 5 days ago says that "The process to elect his successor is now under way". I don't see how a person can be both appointed and elected at the same time.

   06/30/2016 18:39Stephen Tilley

IMPORTANT:
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36618738

... as this question the only live alternatives are 'Theresa May' and 'Other'

   06/28/2016 19:21Stephen Tilley

NOTE: SUSPENDS 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016

The process to elect his successor is now under way

See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/27/nine-tory-mps-including-boris-johnson-start-36-hour-scramble-to/

   12/11/2014 18:34mayank

Got it. Thanks!
Guess it is the same way in China.

   12/11/2014 05:37Stephen Tilley

@Mayank

We don't have fixed-term Prime Ministers; we now have fixed-term parliaments and it is from parliament that the monarch appoints the Prime Minister. It is important to understand that under the British system Prime Ministers can be forced out of office at any time - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher#Fall_from_power

I picked 2025 as Cameron would have been in power for an unprecedented 15 years by then; recent long-term holders of the post have been Thatcher and Blair both of whom were there for ten years and both of whom would have stayed longer if they had their own way.

   12/10/2014 14:18mayank

2025…? Is Mr Cameron elected until then?!