What would happen if the UK Parliamentarians and Head of State were the victims of a terrorist attack?

[cakeorwine]

Watched Designated Survivor on Netflix. 1 Cabinet Secretary is in the White House during the State of the Union - Congress is blown up and he becomes the President because of the succession laws in the USA. President, VP,Speaker etc

What would happen here? I know we have someone who is sent as a "hostage" to Buckingham Palace when we have the Opening of Parliament - but if all our Parliamentarians were killed in Parliament, who would take charge?

Would the local parties just have to nominate new MPs and we would have a new election, regardless of experience?

Assume the King would nominate someone PDQ until a proper election could be held.

This is assuming the entire royal family isn’t also annihilated

The Civil Service runs the country anyway, so things wouldn't grind to a halt. They'd have to scratch around and find some half way competent people to take over until parliament could be re established with new members.

They'd have to scratch around and find some half way competent people

So an improvement on the current crop of parliamentarians then?

This is part of the plot in V For Vendetta

Zara became Queen

I am sure the Civil Service would be able to keep things going but it would be one hell of a shock to the country. I

Have you watched Parliament - it'd be a rare day if anyone managed to kill 25% of MP's in the House.

But on a serious note, you really don't want to know - more than likely a self-declared oligarchy of the miltary and others, and if you think your civil rights are currently under threat, just wait until you see what they would do.

What do you mean about a hostage going to Buckingham Palace during the opening of Parliament?

Obviously, they would send Boris the call!

Absolutely 😂

It's a tradition

Conservative MP taken hostage at Buckingham Palace until The Queen is safely returned from the Palace of Westminster – Royal Central

Marcus Jones, MP for Nuneaton, is being ‘held captive’ at the Palace and will be released once the monarch has been safely returned from delivering her speech at the State Opening of Parliament.
Mr Jones arrived at Buckingham Palace before The Queen departed by car to the Palace of Westminster. He will remain here until the 95-year-old returns.
The tradition of keeping an MP hostage is a centuries-old tradition dating back to Charles I when the Monarch and Parliament were on less friendly terms.
The hostage is usually a government whip and Vice-Chamberlain of the Household.

They could wander onto the street, randomly point at a dozen people and end up with a better selection than we have in parliament at the moment.

who would take charge?
A monkey with a magic 8 ball? That octopus that picks World Cup winners?
The transition would be seamless.

🤣😂🤣

My dads favourite saying is 'the last honest person in Westminster was Guy Faukes'

Sadly it's probably accurate!

I read the title and opened the thread to say Kiefer Sutherland! Then read the OP...

I assume there are plans for this sort of thing. My guess is it would be an Italian-style technocracy led by civil servants under a stuffed shirt appointed by the monarch for a few months before new elections were held.

As long as we don’t get asked if we are ok by Holly Willoughby, I think the country would probably run out of popcorn.

<geek mode> If every member of the Royal Family were wiped out the crown would simply devolve upon whoever was next in line according to law. Smith, Khan or whomever</geek mode>

Wow thank you @cakeorwine that's so interesting.

This thread has made me think of the Slitheen episode of Dr Who where timid MP Harriet Jones steps up as she is the only elected person in the room.

I have read the Handmaids Tale so have been worrying on and off about this since being a teenager

But on the other hand Belgium went a long time without a government. Some people said they couldn't tell the difference

www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/without-a-government-for-a-year-belgium-shows-what-happens-to-politics-without-politicians/2019/12/19/5c13cb48-20de-11ea-b034-de7dc2b5199b_story.html

There will always be someone next in line to the throne.

Government, I don't know but surely all MPs aren't in Parliament together that often?

When there was a terrorist attack outside Parliament a few years ago, Theresa May was whisked to safety whilst everyone else was locked in so presumably if there was a threat something similar would happen.

Fingers crossed!

Boris and Nadine could step in.

I wonder if there is a secret command bunker that the PM would be whisked to that's deep under Parliament, and connected via a tunnel to Number 10.

(Channels all films where the White House has been attacked)

The entire line of succession doesn't go to the opening of parliament so William would be king.

Not anywhere in UK myself, I've had the same thought about our government here. Big bunch of tossers, unless we scoured our MPs from maximum security prisons it would be hard to end up with a worse bunch then we currently have.

They are normally all in, along with the House of Lords and the Monarch at the State Opening of Parliament.