On 8 June 2017, Theresa May cast her vote in a General Election she had called in the belief that Jeremy Corbyn was so weak that she would end up with a huge majority in Parliament; a de facto dictator. Within twenty four hours of her vote being cast, she was aware she had made the biggest mistake of her career, and that her party had not received the votes necessary to achieve an outright majority.
The procedure for the transfer of power from one government to the next is clear. In the case that a political party wins an absolute majority at a general election, the party leader wishing to form a government takes a trip to Buckingham Palace and asks permission from the Queen. This is a key constitutional protection, and one which the monarch is expected to take seriously, even in this modern age where the constitutional role of the monarch is viewed by most as a mere formality.
In the case that there is no clear majority, the situation gets a little more complicated. The incumbent government is entitled to remain in post (with limitations on what they can do) until the first sitting of the new Parliament to see if they can ‘command the confidence of the House’. In other words they have a short time to try to enter into coalition with another party. Or, if they’re feeling particularly bullish, or have a particularly charismatic leader, they may feel they can operate as a minority government and make individual agreements with other parties for each piece of legislation they try to introduce to the House.
This post was published at 21st Century Wire on OCTOBER 4, 2017.
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