To think if Keir Starmer is ousted there should be a general election

[Viviennemary]

I think the set-up should be changed and if the PM is voted out by his party then there needs to be a general election. I didn't vote for very left wing policies which will happen if Andy Burnham replaces the PM. And neither would have I ever voted for the dreadful Liz Truss who must be the absolute worst PM we've ever had.

Disagree. We voted in a Labour government in 2024. That government is entitled to be in power for 5 years.

7 Prime ministers in 10 years is just taking the piss. When are we going to actually get someone decent? - and no I don't think that's Burnham.

You won’t get the left wing Mumsnet flowing agreeing with you on this OP, because Labour would get trounced in a GE right now.

I do agree though - maybe putting this in place in the future would stop the ridiculous levels of leadership changes in ALL parties. It’s absolutely crazy that this is allowed to happen again and again. I know that people keep saying that you vote for the party, not the person - but the leaders of the party absolutely drive the agenda of what happens in the country. Centre left to full on hard left is as bad as centre right to full on hard right.

That suggests you missed the entire Thatcher "run the country like a household" bollocks of the 80s

No!

How about telling us who the last good one was. Then we know what to look for.

Labour would get trounced in a GE right now.

Who by? The Tories who got less than 2% of the vote last week? Reform who can’t even find one decent candidate to fight a by-election, let alone 600 odd?

The country is going to shit and there isn’t anyone who is prepared to stop it.
AB, Miliband and Rayner are going to be make it x10 worse.

Certainly Labour would lose seats, but I wouldn't rule out them actually being in government again if a GE were held now, albeit in coalition. Actually I'm not sure I'd rule anything out at this point. FPTP combined with a genuinely multi party system and clear willingness of the public to vote tactically against the poll leading party makes it incredibly hard to predict.

The 1970s called and want their headlines back.

I do think Ed milliband would be a terrible chancellor. Hope to be proved wrong of course but I don’t think he’s ever shown any real understanding of economics

I did because I wasn't living here.

He lost the 2 previous attempts because he is lightweight. In Manchester he took over plans that were already in place for transport, and he’s had enough money to do what he wants to be popular. We have no idea what his plans for defence, international relations, the budget,welfare etc are. He could be good and I hope he is, but I’d like to hear an outline before he’s given the keys to number 10, or it will be ‘no plan Starmer’ all over again

💯

That's a shame.

@Viviennemary you didn't vote for a specific Prime Minister, you voted for your own local MP. The political party who wins the largest number of seats in the House of Commons is invited to form a Government. In this case that party still has the largest number of seats in the Commons and is the Labour Party, so they are still democratically entitled to form the Government. Who leads them is an internal matter for them.

If you want to change the system, how would you go about doing that? I'm all for an overhaul and something along the lines of proportional representation but I'm still not sure what you would do in this particular instance, even with PR.

Could he resign as head of Labour, but carry on as prime minister, if he had the support of the King?

No.

The Monarch no longer chooses the PM (since Douglas-Home and all that).

Andy Burnham will be PM without even the Labour Party having elected him. Its dire. How undemocratic.

If nobody else steps up the PLP will have effectively elected him.

Personally I think it's more democratic the MPs choosing than the party memberships. At least the MPs are elected and can be held accountable to their constituents. Labour and the Tories have both shown what happens when they let the base choose.

In Sweden, their parliament chooses the PM. Why can't we have the same?

Theresa May ?
Boris Johnson ?
Liz Truss ?
Rishi Sunak ?

If it's sauce for the goose, it's sauce for the gander.

Here's "undemocratic". Appointing an unelected bloke to be foreign secretary.

I would almost certainly have voted for Burnham. But I would have liked the opportunity to. I'd like to have seen him set his stall out against those of others to be confident he is the best for the role. As party members it's our right and responsibility to elect our leaders. However if no one is going to stand against him, then that obviously can't happen.