# BritDopers (and nosy foreigners) - The general election 2010 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133 "2010-04-06T11:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 49
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/961 "2010-05-14T03:31:43Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Hmmm – is there anything in statute law that requires a government to resign on losing a confidence vote? Otherwise, it’s merely a convention – one of long precedent, to be sure. But for a P.M. to say, “Okay, the vote was 318 No confidence, 316 Confidence, 16 absentees or abstentions – that’s not necessarily reflective of the nation’s lack of confidence in the Government” does make sense. Now, if he ignored multiple or lopsided no confidence votes, then the Leader of the Opposition would be justified in going to see the Queen and asking that he be dismissed or Parliament dissolved. (And I’m speculating here – what would happen if Cameron did lose a confidence vote by a slim margin and ignored it? Riots in the streets? Dogs and cats living together?) Yes, it is only convention in the UK’s case. Some countries it is in the statutes. But if the bill being deliberated was “That money be made available to play public servants this week”, then yes, without supply, rioting in the streets would be quite feasible. I can recall instances where a government has won a tight confidence vote and yet still resigned. I can’t recall an instance of losing and still carrying on. Probably closest was Gough Whitlam in 1975. He had a clear majority in the lower house but tied numbers in the upper house so he couldn’t get the Supply Bill passed. Abstentions are not a show of confidence, and absentees in a tight motion of no confidence would indicate that the MP is either moribund or dead. I don’t think that HM’s Leader of the Opposition would go to the Queen. Rather, in one of their weekly fireside chats QEII would ask her PM whether the loss on a critical vote would mean that the program she had outlined in the Throne Speech could not be delivered. i.e the PM is in breach of the pledge that they command majority support on key pieces of legislation. In that case the PM would resign, and in the unprecedented instance they didn’t, QEII would withdraw their commission. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/962 "2010-05-14T08:52:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > So who would our BritDopers like to see as the new Labour leader, and why? None of the current group who have been mention in the media, but especially not Miliband. I think that what the Labour party need now is a caretaker administration like Michael Howard did for the Tories until a suitable and electable leader can be found. I don’t know who that could be, but possibly someone like Andrew Slaughter would be good. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/963 "2010-05-14T09:17:41Z")
> [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](#): > > I don’t know who that could be, but possibly someone like Andrew Slaughter would be good. Oh man - how cool would a Prime Minister Slaughter be? It’d be like having a Mike Haggar administration. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/964 "2010-05-14T12:59:59Z")
Interestingly odds on Yvette Cooper have been tightening recently - I can’t really imagine her standing as well as her husband, but such moves on betfair are often caused by insiders so perhaps there’ll be an annoucnement later. ---
**Author:** ![Sri\_Theo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sri\_Theo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sri_Theo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/965 "2010-05-17T12:28:19Z")
I’d like to point out that ‘it’s only convention’ doesn’t really make sense in a country with an uncodified constitution. It’s just as legal as anything else - as to what would happen if the PM refused to step down, well what would happen if the house of lords refused to pass a budget? Or the queen refused to pass a law? ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/966 "2010-05-17T12:36:06Z")
> [@Sri\_Theo](#): > > I’d like to point out that ‘it’s only convention’ doesn’t really make sense in a country with an uncodified constitution. It’s just as legal as anything else - as to what would happen if the PM refused to step down, well what would happen if the house of lords refused to pass a budget? Or the queen refused to pass a law? Exactly. Parliamentary convention has a lot of weight, it’s not just a habit that can be dropped tomorrow - and putting something into statute to bind Parliament doesn’t make a lot of sense because of Parliamentary sovereignty. (Where any Parliament can change any law made by any other Parliament - we don’t have laws that require special amounts of votes in favour, as far as I know, just a majority). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/967 "2010-05-17T13:30:36Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Interestingly odds on Yvette Cooper have been tightening recently Ed Balls is tainted by his very close association with Brown. And he’s in a marginal constituency. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/968 "2010-05-17T13:42:01Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Now, if he ignored multiple or lopsided no confidence votes, then the Leader of the Opposition would be justified in going to see the Queen and asking that he be dismissed or Parliament dissolved. I asked a while back who else could ask the Monarch for a dissolution, but I can’t find the thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133.md?page=48)