#Boris #Johnson #Prime #Minister
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his resignation but is not going anywhere for the time being – and British voters have no say in his successor. Why?
– The long goodbye –
The scandal-ridden Johnson bowed to a cabinet riot and said Thursday he would step down as Conservative party leader.
But he said he would remain at 10 Downing Street until Britain’s ruling party elects a successor – which could be months.
Until then, he continues to exercise all the trappings of executive power.
Britain has no formal appointment of a ‘caretaker’ leader between party elections.
In fact, Britain has no formal constitution at all. Instead, it has accumulated centuries of convention in royal palaces, parliaments, and courts.
– Non-Presidential –
The unwritten constitution dictates that Britain is a parliamentary democracy.
The leader of the largest party becomes prime minister with the approval of the monarch.
After a federal election, the situation is usually clear – unless, as in 2010, no single party emerges with an overall majority.
The prime minister must prove his majority by a vote of confidence.
If the leader of the largest party, this is ensured with the support of one or more smaller parties (as in 2010) where appropriate.
But between elections, parties often change leadership, as now and as in 2016 when Theresa May succeeded David Cameron after his defeat in Britain’s Brexit referendum.
Indeed, in 1974, Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath was the last leader to be elected and voted out by the public at the ballot box.
Labor insists Johnson cannot hang around one more day.
It says it will force a no-confidence vote if the Conservatives don’t agree to install a new leader much more quickly.
– Lack of trust –
Normally, a ruling party with a working 73-seat majority would be sure of winning such a vote in the House of Commons.
But several Tories have also expressed unease about Johnson staying in office longer.
If – and this is a big if – enough of them rebel and Labor win, Johnson would have to leave immediately.
By convention, the Conservatives would have to quickly appoint another leader, who would have to show he had majority support in the House of Commons.
Otherwise Britain would have to hold general elections.
Over the years, pressure has mounted on a new prime minister, elected internally by her party, to seek a popular mandate.
When Gordon Brown took over as Labor leader and Prime Minister from Tony Blair in 2007, Brown was on the verge of calling snap elections.
But fatally he hesitated, the global financial crisis kicked in and Labor lost in 2010.
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