British Politics Guide

[Richard W]

More on topic about the ongoing Anarchy in the UK, it appears there's somebody (Andy Burnham) who just won a by-election to the House of Commons and who a lot of people are pegging to be the new PM. Whether or not that happens is maybe a bit in the air due to the leadership election procedure and whether or not there'll be multiple candidates... so an interesting summer is possibly ahead. (Or an uneventful one. Maybe a mix.)

The King may appoint whomever the House of Commons will accept as prime minister.

[Raphael]

The King may appoint whomever the House of Commons will accept as prime minister.

But the unwritten convention for a while seems to have been that the PM has to be a party leader, which would make it awkward to appoint Burnham before he's officially and legally Leader of Labour.

[Lērisama]

The King may appoint whomever the House of Commons will accept as prime minister.

But the unwritten convention for a while seems to have been that the PM has to be a party leader, which would make it awkward to appoint Burnham before he's officially and legally Leader of Labour.

Starmer has said he won't officially resign as PM rather than leader of the Labour party until there is a new Labour leader to take his place. Andy Burnham is highly likely to be the next Prime Minister as it's getting increasingly unclear who else might be able to gather the necessary 80 MPs to run. The main name being floated was Wes Streeting, but he's thrown his lot in with Burnham¹, and noöne else who migth be able to make up the numbers has expressed an interest in the poisoned challace.

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As for Burnham himself, he was a big name in the last Labour government, lost two Labour leadership elections (2010 & 2015), and then went off to be mayor of Manchester², where he is supposed to be very popular³ and has benefitted from not being at Westminster⁴.

¹ Presumably for a job in his government, because he was never going to beat Burnham in the membership vote because the membership a) love Burnham, and b) think Streeting's too right wing.
² Technically Greater Manchester, but I don't actually know how people in the area think of themselves.
³ See: recent by-election results.
⁴ Of course, how long this will last with him as PM is debatable

[lëtzeshark]

Starmer has said he won't officially resign as PM rather than leader of the Labour party until there is a new Labour leader to take his place. Andy Burnham is highly likely to be the next Prime Minister as it's getting increasingly unclear who else might be able to gather the necessary 80 MPs to run. The main name being floated was Wes Streeting, but he's thrown his lot in with Burnham¹, and noöne else who migth be able to make up the numbers has expressed an interest in the poisoned challace.

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As for Burnham himself, he was a big name in the last Labour government, lost two Labour leadership elections (2010 & 2015), and then went off to be mayor of Manchester², where he is supposed to be very popular³ and has benefitted from not being at Westminster⁴.

Indeed, this is the typical course of action in a Westminster system, where the outgoing PM announces first that they are resigning as party leader and will stand down as PM once a replacement party leader has been appointed/designated who can then be advised to the King as the replacement. But 80 MPs is a significant threshold: not insurmountable, though if a lot already have publicly designated their support for Burnham, then others might see the writing on the wall.

More on topic about the ongoing Anarchy in the UK, it appears there's somebody (Andy Burnham) who just won a by-election to the House of Commons and who a lot of people are pegging to be the new PM. Whether or not that happens is maybe a bit in the air due to the leadership election procedure and whether or not there'll be multiple candidates... so an interesting summer is possibly ahead. (Or an uneventful one. Maybe a mix.)

The King may appoint whomever the House of Commons will accept as prime minister.

On that note, I know that the Address in Reply to the King's Speech is a confidence motion (and we've already gone through the State Opening of Parliament, I think), but will the new PM have to (formally) win a confidence motion? (I ask because this is also the common practice on the continent: there usually must be a formal confidence vote for the designated cabinet once nominated.)

[Travis B.]

I have read that the number of Labour MP's who have thrown their lot in with Burnham is thought to now be as high as 300, which means that, since there are only 403 members of the Parliamentary Labour Party, it would take the vast majority of the remaining Labour MP's to all throw their lot in with a single challenger for this to be anything other than a coronation.

[Raphael]

Interesting, perhaps a bit contrarian take on the whole matter by David Allen Green: https://theemptycity.com/blog/2026/06/g ... al-system/

[Raphael]

More from Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/beijingpalmer. ... uc3tfm2c2e https://bsky.app/profile/beijingpalmer. ... uc7qbhac2e

[alice]

More from Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/beijingpalmer. ... uc3tfm2c2e https://bsky.app/profile/beijingpalmer. ... uc7qbhac2e

"This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in." How is that relevant?

[Raphael]

"This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in." How is that relevant?

Oh. Sorry. I didn't notice that.

[Torco]

heheheheh... i like her

[Raphael]

So Farage is doing a "Despite the smears that my enemies spread against me, Teh People clearly still love me!" strategy?

[Lērisama]

So Farage is doing a "Despite the smears that my enemies spread against me, Teh People clearly still love me!" strategy?

Of course, what could be more Farage than turning the news cycle towards him and his clear and obvious adulation from the people of Where-Was-That-Again¹, nay, the whole country, rather than on him in not that way, I asked for coverage, not the truth‽

¹ Clacton on Sea, but he's sighted at US right wing gatherings more than his own constituency², so there's a running joke that he doesn't know that
² Okay I don't have a running total of Farage Constituency time, but the joke does have some truth behind it

[alice]

All the major parties have declined to put up a candidate against him, which according to someone from his party means they're running scared. It's far more likely, of course, that they quite properly don't want to play along with his Cunning Stunt¹, and it looks like it'll just be him and Count Binface contesting the seat. Ladies and gentlemen, this is British politics at its (their?) finest.

¹ From the punchline to the joke "what's the difference between an acrobat and a truncheon?".

[Lērisama]

it looks like it'll just be him and Count Binface contesting the seat. Ladies and gentlemen, this is British politics at its (their?) finest.

No, that'd be if Count Binface wins¹.

¹² Admittedly, I'd take him keeping his deposit for the first time ever
² And welcome to the footnote club. Long may the labyrinthine tangles of unicode superscripts to work around the ancientness of phpbb continue!

[bradrn]

it looks like it'll just be him and Count Binface contesting the seat. Ladies and gentlemen, this is British politics at its (their?) finest.

No, that'd be if Count Binface wins¹.

Oh, pleeeeeease let Count Binface beat Nigel Farage… what a delicious bit of poetic justice that would be.

(I know there’s no chance. But even so…)

[Raphael]

it looks like it'll just be him and Count Binface contesting the seat.

So it'll be Count Binface versus the binface who doesn't have a title of nobility?

[Lērisama]

it looks like it'll just be him and Count Binface contesting the seat. Ladies and gentlemen, this is British politics at its (their?) finest.

No, that'd be if Count Binface wins¹.

Oh, pleeeeeease let Count Binface beat Nigel Farage… what a delicious bit of poetic justice that would be.

(I know there’s no chance. But even so…)

If noöne else (with half a chance) stands¹, then the turnout will be very low, so there is the smallest sliver of a chance, but Count Binface hasn't ever kept his deposit yet, and almost anything more than 1% is a) a record for him and b) embarrassing to Farage, especially if it gets into the double digits².

¹ Looking decently likely so far, as everyone even half major bar the Greens have said they won't stand, and for the Greens I believe the decision is up to the local members, which would explain the leadership's silence on the subject.
² Again, if noöne else does stand I'd call that plausible

[Travis B.]

I'm so hoping that Count Binface beats Nigel Farage, but would be impressed by him simply not losing his deposit for once. (It'd be so disappointing if the Greens decide to actually run a candidate, mind you.)

[Lērisama]

I'm so hoping that Count Binface beats Nigel Farage, but would be impressed by him simply not losing his deposit for once. (It'd be so disappointing if the Greens decide to actually run a candidate, mind you.)

Again, my understanding is that this is the local membership's choice, so we'll have to wait and see for however long it takes to organise an emergency Clacton Green party meeting to see if they decide to treat this like the pointless attention stunt it is or not.

Edit: and the Greens are also out. Let the intergalactic bin lord conquer all!

[Ares Land]

May Count Binface bin Cuntface!