Re: primaries -- I was thinking more of downticket races than the PM. Does Labour nominate a candidate for a seat, and the Conservatives nominate theirs, and so on? Or are those races free-for-alls, with each candidate advertising their party without being directly backed by it?
Each party puts forward a candidate, and there's decision as to which candidate to put forward is a matter for internal arrangement. That said, parties don't always put forward a candidate, and in a seat where they're particularly weak, they'll often put forward a no-hoper. For instance, in the recent kerfuffle when David Davis resigned his position to force a by-election over the 42-day detention malarkey, neither Labour nor the LibDems ran against him, and he was reelected. Additionally, anyone can run for MP, provided they can prove a certain minimal support and stand the deposit. We've not had many independent MPs lately, but they do happen. I don't know how many votes the Monster Raving Looney Party get each election, but we have had worryingly large numbers of people vote for the BNP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party) before now. This page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPs_elected_in_the_UK_general_election,_2005) shows that a fair few parties are represented.
I have a hard time envisioning how someone with enough influence to be at the head of a party that's won the majority could end up in this situation, but okay.
Independents used to be more common, the British parties are just as divided internally as any others, and if you end up in a coalition and can't satisfy your backers, you're screwed. Add in the fact that anything the PM wants passed has to go through Commons and without a decent majority, you're even more screwed. Ted Heath is a good example of that.
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yati
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Date: 2008-10-29 08:29 pm (UTC)Each party puts forward a candidate, and there's decision as to which candidate to put forward is a matter for internal arrangement. That said, parties don't always put forward a candidate, and in a seat where they're particularly weak, they'll often put forward a no-hoper. For instance, in the recent kerfuffle when David Davis resigned his position to force a by-election over the 42-day detention malarkey, neither Labour nor the LibDems ran against him, and he was reelected. Additionally, anyone can run for MP, provided they can prove a certain minimal support and stand the deposit. We've not had many independent MPs lately, but they do happen. I don't know how many votes the Monster Raving Looney Party get each election, but we have had worryingly large numbers of people vote for the BNP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_National_Party) before now. This page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPs_elected_in_the_UK_general_election,_2005) shows that a fair few parties are represented.
I have a hard time envisioning how someone with enough influence to be at the head of a party that's won the majority could end up in this situation, but okay.
Independents used to be more common, the British parties are just as divided internally as any others, and if you end up in a coalition and can't satisfy your backers, you're screwed. Add in the fact that anything the PM wants passed has to go through Commons and without a decent majority, you're even more screwed. Ted Heath is a good example of that.