# The reign of King Charles III of the United Kingdom **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 8, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232 "2022-09-08T18:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 608
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2022, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/608 "2022-10-20T19:19:32Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The Conservatives just won a hotly contested vote in the Commons that had a three line whip, so a confidence measure. … Ref the three-line whip, it seems rather unclear to the UK Doperati whether the whip was actually in effect for the vote. It seems to have been in place earlier in the day, then withdrawn, then hastily reinstated perhaps too late to be effective? The relevant bit of the discussion picks up about here: > [@Liz Truss tries to lead the UK {and resigns as of 2022-10-20}](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/liz-truss-tries-to-lead-the-uk-and-resigns-as-of-2022-10-20/970992/305): > > Had they checked the fridge? That was likely Dominic Cummings’ idea. You may remember him as the unelected bureaucrat who was running the country after we left the EU to keep unelected bureaucrats from running the country. Better to just leave it in a hospital… The key takeaway from the fracking vote is not the vote count but that absolute shitshow around the imposition of a three-line whip, which really pissed off the members (because fracking is not a very popular thing at the moment an… Peering into that less-than-clear water looking for clarity on whether this was a validly binding vote of confidence is IMO a mug’s game. Although I graciously and utterly defer to your far, far greater knowledge on all matters of UK & Canadian governance. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > … > No basis for the King to declare the govt doesn’t have confidence of the Commons. The week is yet young. I do respect the many UK & Canadian folks who’ve suggested that any attempt by Charles to execute the overtly political act of dissolving Parliament would be the end of his reign, if not of the very monarchy itself. Almost(?) regardless of the severity of the situation that might have led to such a momentous decision. From my distant observation post it seems like one of the key functions of the Monarchy is to be able to break the sort of impasses Britain may soon come to, where the clowns have comprehensively taken over the car and are driving with evident malice towards the cliff. There were certainly moments in Trump’s first term where I’d wished we had somebody normally sitting benignly above the vulgar brawl we call politics but also with the power and respect to shout “You! Out of the pool!” and have it stick once things get / got too _outré_. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232)._