Can a new prime minister take office without a general election?

[AgentKim]

Erm shouldn't we have a general election to vote in a new prime minister as no one voted for Andy Burnham to be in charge.
How is that allowed.
Im sure people voted for Labour because they wanted Kier Starmer to be prime minister. Where did Andy Burnham come from all of sudden.
Can anyone in the government in power be prime minister without a general election.

Where have you been for the last ten years?

Perhaps Google or ChatGPT could help you to understand the basics of how our parliamentary democracy actually works?

When you voted in the last general election, what name was next to the box you selected?

Well yes clearly they can since it's been done multiple times and you don't vote a prime minister in, you vote a party in.

To be honest I think Andy Burnham is more fulfilling what I voted for that Kier Starmer. But regardless, the system we have is a party one not a presidential one. So no, he doesn’t need to call an election and I don’t think he should call one.

Hasn't only ONE of the last half a dozen or so Prime Ministers been voted in via a general election.
I completely lose track of who our PM actually is.

Can a new prime minister take office without a general election?
Yes

You voted for your local MP

the party with the most MPs wins and gets to select the PM

this can be changed at any time

since you voted for a specific local MP, if they leave or the party wants to change them then you get to vote again - but still only for your local own MP

Ha, exactly what I was about to say!

Oh FFS how's many times in your life op have you elected a prime minister?
I'm going with zero

It’s actually very scary that people get to vote without having any understanding of our parliamentary system

Good grief the way we are going through PMs at the moment we would never be out of the election cycle and would have even less stability than we do now.

what we need to do is get away from this calling for the head of a PM when the country isn’t 100% fixed in a matter of months.

Here’s a list of all the Prime Ministers who became PM mid-term and weren’t voted in during a General Election.

• Herbert Henry Asquith (1908)
• David Lloyd George (1916)
• Winston Churchill (1940)
• Sir Anthony Eden (1955)
• Harold Macmillan (1957)
• Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1963)
• James Callaghan (1976)
• John Major (1990)
• Gordon Brown (2007)
• Theresa May (2016)
• Boris Johnson (2019)
• Liz Truss (2022)
• Rishi Sunak (2022)

People not understanding what they are voting for is becoming more and more widespread. Lots of people in my local area voted Reform at the last local elections thinking it would mean Reform would be running the country!

Surely this is exact the kind of thing that should be taught in school.

Well for fuck sake the first one I voted for was Harold Wilson.
I was just asking a simple question and I dont need all these snide replies.

Of course if they cross the floor you could end up being represented by the person you voted for and not the party (or vice versa) and that opens up a huge debate about whether it should trigger a by election.

Totally agree, basic politics should be part of mandatory curriculum at KS3

@AgentKim you vote for a local representative of a party. whoever is the leader of the winning party becomes prime minister. if that party decides to change leaders, the country gets a new PM.

No, if he was in your constituency you voted for him to be the MP for your area. If he was the candidate in your constituency then no, you did not vote for him.

OP if you’re not a bot you must walk round with shit in your eyes. Do a quick google and it will explain

Im starting to seriously wonder if there should be an IQ test that you have to pass before being allowed to vote.

Larry should be in charge 🐱

It absolutely is - I think it’s almost unfair to get cross with @AgentKim because unless you are interested in politics or taught it at school or by your parents then how are you supposed to know? Although you would hope that a full grown adult would know at least a little bit about how the system works in the UK and while @MrsPapillon ’s list is a useful indicator, the fact of the matter is that no one votes in any prime minister other than as a sitting MP already doing the job and then it’s just their constituents.

Im not a bot and I havnt got shit in my eyes unlike what has come out of your mouth.

@AgentKim , there is no need to be rude. If you voted for Harold Wilsonthen presumably you lived in the constituency where he stood, so Ormskirk or Huyton.

Are you using Mumsnet instead of Google? If so that's ok.