A trivial point
For a few minutes this afternoon Britain will have no prime minister. The moment will come after Tony Blair informs Her Majesty the Queen of his resignation and before Gordon Brown kisses her hand to mark his acceptance of her invitation to form the next government.
By historical standards this is a mere blink of the eye. When Churchill stood down it was a full day before Eden took over, leading the newspapers at the time to complain that Britain was leaderless. When Lloyd George resigned, it was a full four days.
Technically, there will briefly be no ministers either, for when a prime minister resigns he tenders the resignations of all his colleagues at the same time. In practice, those who were ministers will remain in post until a new prime minister has been appointed and has formed a new government.
In an era when we've grown used to prime ministers being on call 24/7 it is intriguing - if admittedly trivial - to speculate how government would respond to attack during the gap.
I am told that two ministers are always designated to press the nuclear button if necessary so Britain could respond without a prime minister. Of course, Her Majesty would be likely to speed through the kissing of hands with Gordon Brown to allow the new man to take charge.
What, though, if Brown had an accident on the way to the palace? Would Tony Blair be asked to reconsider? Or would John Prescott step in as deputy prime minister or Harriet Harman as the new deputy leader of the Labour Party? Take your pick.
I'm 
Comments
Hi Nick,
Can you try and get Arnie to do some one liners while he's in town?!
You are right Nick,amazingly trivial.i'm sure you must have something better to do,there again perhaps not.
What about me? I can do d'at - gis a job.
prescott with his hand on the nuclear button?
only if he can keep his hands of his secretary's buttons I suppose.
Nick, I hope very seriously that Prescott is not called upon to launch a nuclear warhead!
I think I'd feel a lot safer leaving the Queen in charge than with the rest of them!
Perhaps the Queen will decide to dissolve parliament and call an election instead. In which case does Blair remain PM until someone else wins the election?
There is talk of Blair resigning his seat in the near future; but to do this he has to be given the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds, or similar. What if the Chiltern Hundreds doesn't want him?
What does 24/7 mean? Is it English or are you yet another proponent of the constant dumbing down of our language ?
Particularly offensive on a 91Èȱ¬ page and when coined by a journalist with, one presumes, a modicum of education.
Try English m8 !
Preferably none of the above!
Perhaps one of the Corgis would stand in - It'd certainly get my vote.
Tony Blair informs Her Majesty the Queen of his resignation
I'm concerned that nobody has thought fit to tell her until now. Won't this come as something of a shock to her? She is, after all, getting on a bit and may need some time to steel herself to the prospect of Gordon Brown slobbering over her hand.
Will nobody think of the grandmothers?
who cares!!!
If when Tony Blair resigns he is technically ending the careers of all the members of the Cabinet as well, presumably John Prescott also ceases to be Deputy Prime Minister during these leadeerless minutes.
And as the new PM would not have taken the seals of office yet, one can also presume that Harriet Harman would be powerless as the new Cabinet would have yet to be installed.
So technically, the best time to start a coup would be somewhere between 2pm and 3pm today.
If anyone reading this does decide to seize power, please can you nationalise the railways. That's all I ask.
I'll do Gordon Brown a deal. He can stay at home today, sit down and watch such stalwarts of daytime TV such as "Trisha" and "The Jeremy Kyle Show", and I'll go do his job for him today. No charge.
who cares!!!
"What, though, if Brown had an accident on the way to the palace?"
The conspiricy nuts would love that :-)
My money would have to be on HH. IIRC theres a simalair situation in a tom clancy novel where the president and the cabinet are all killed in a terrosist incident, but the candiate for VP hasn't been sworn in yet.
Surely the Deputy Prime minister would step in, I mean, what else does he do? Cover annual leave and create a large (no pun intended) carbon footprint.
Nick, you are falling into the trap of the idea that the country needs minute-by-minute micromanagement. Blair often protested that he just wanted to get on with the business of governing but we really don't need someone to look after us on every trip to the shops.
Ministers may make policy and have strong executive power but the country really can manage perfectly well without them for periods of time.
Given how much of a mess this lot seem to make of running the country, I can't help thinking that Britain would be a better place if we had a longer gap between prime ministers. Say, 10 years or so.
In the words of yes minister
Sir Humphrey: Her Majesty does like the business of government to continue even when there are no politicians around.
Jim: Bit difficult surely?
Sir Humphrey: Yes ... and no.
This situation reminds me of an episode of the West Wing where President Bartlett got shot, yet hadn't signed the transfer of power document essentially leaving his unelected staff running the country.
well, clearly the queen is in charge, i say she goes into hiding so brown cant kiss her hand
Nick, you make politics so interesting!!! I love your quirky angle on what is basically dull - Brown 'n Blair. You're on about 5 minutes of no PM, pressing red buttons, crashes on way to Queenie! Brilliant! You should be a script writer!
At 10:14 AM on 27 Jun 2007, Lynne wrote:
who cares!!!
Given that you took the time to click the story, read it, and then chose to make a comment on it, I'd say... you do. :-)
Another interesting piece of trivia - MPs can't 'resign' - they have to apply for an office of the Crown, for instance the 'Crown Steward and Baliff of the Chiltern Hundreds', or 'Crown Steward and Baliff of the Manor of Northstead'. A sitting MP must apply to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for such an office - so who will Blair apply to, Brown, (who is the Chancellor this morning), or the new incumbent who Brown may not have appointed in time!
In either case Blair will have to submit his 'resignation' as an MP to someone who once served under his leadership.
The PM is not an office required by legislation as far as I know, only by convention. The Queen would be in charge until she delegates her powers to a first minister. If something happened to GB on the way to the Palace she would look to appoint someone who could command a majority in the House of Commons. This would be up to the Labour Party so I suspect she would ask TB to take a caretaker role until a leadership election was completed (assuming he wasn't standing!).
Nick Robinson: King of trivia!
The 91Èȱ¬ certainly has a chief political correspondent in tune with the times we live in.
Pass the sick bucket ...
I assume all ministers have been on crisis management training and would react as a situation dictated.
As it will be 8.00am in Washington when TB goes to the HM Queen, and one assumes President Bush would be awake, maybe he could be asked to keep an eye on us across the pond. Then at least we can all rest comfortably.
Well...Brown or Blair...can somebody change the foreign policies?
Nick,
I know you would have been at the lobby briefing yesterday so can I draw your attention to the words of the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman:
At what point does Gordon Brown become Prime Minister?
When the Queen asks him to form a Government
Who is in charge in the interim?
Don?t be so silly!
Not Harman in charge PLEASE !! Anything but that.
Its strange how government has effectively resigned, and two former members that are civillians for a few minutes still have access to the nuclear switch!
Can you imagine what would happen in some countries around the world?
"Can you hold this for a few minutes?"
"Who me?"
"Yes?"
"SURE! MuHaHaHa! Death to my enemies!"
the queen is in charge just like any other time. Lets not forget before a bill becomes law it gets her signature.
this is a timely reminder that we dont indeed live in a democracy.
maybe anarchy will rise again or the queen rules, another class war....
Deputy PM does not exist in terms of the "consititution", and will have resigned with Blair anyway - so Prescott is gone with Blair.
So - the Labour constitution says Depute Leader becomes full Leader automatically (see Margaret Beckett, who was leader not acting leader after John Smith died) - therefore Harriet Harman would be leader of the Labour party and would be asked to form a government.
What happens next? probably a full Labour leadership election (a novel idea) and in the interim there would be a government, no matter how temporary, under Harman.
I read that Paul Newman, another actor, is also retiring but he, at least, won an Oscar. Blair never even got nominated for a Bafta. I don't know whether his father-in-law, or his paternal grandparents did any better - they were all on the stage.
But, I suppose his new post as Middle East envoy will give him another chance on the stage. It is not a part he is likely to succeed in as one of his least successful roles was as PM of a country which attacked Iraq and Afghanistan. Only one member of his audience even clapped, whilst calling out loudly "Yo, Blair".
Nevertheless, these shows have been playing for years and may go on for another 30 years. It is good to learn that his part as a sincere Prime Minister finally comes to an end and his understudy takes over tonight.
It has been shown in the City that unmanaged portfolios that are broadly representative of the whole FTSE regularly outperform actively managed funds.
Extending that theory to governance, could we not have a trial period of three months or so without a Prime Minister? I reckon things will be noticeably better.
To answer the point about what would happen if Gordon Brown had an accident on the way to the palace, according to centuries of constitutional precident the Leader of the House of Commons would be in temporary charge (currently Jack Straw).The role of Deputy Prime Minister is nothing more than a title and has no offical legal standing.
No doubt the sheer fear of Mr. Straw taking charge should ensure nothing happens to Mr. Brown on his way to or from the palace!
Yes but once Blair has resigned at the Palace there AREN'T any ministers. That's the point. There's no PM, no deputy and no cabinet.
Officially, the Prime Minister governs on behalf of The Monarch. So if the PM resigns, theoretically Direct Rule returns to The Queen. We're not true Democracy - while we elect Members to Parliament, it is actually The Queen who appoints the PM. An example: Winston Churchill was appointed, rather than directly elected, in the crisis of 1940.
I can pitcure the scene now a la - Trigger Happy TV. Hidden camera within Buck Palace, Blair goes in and does the necessary with the Queen giving him his score, 4 out of 10 maybe. Then a few minutes later in wanders Brown with the Queen sat on the sofa watch tv (Eastenders, just for the effect), looks at Brown and says 'ah yes, I've decided I want to think about this one a bit, and whilst I did agree to do the hand kissing thing you did agree to a referendum about that Europe malarky some time ago so I see it that we are even at the moment'.
Gordon Brown is not to have a Deputy Prime Minister.
What is the constitutional position if he fell under the proverbial bus?
Who takes over as Acting PM until the Labour Party elects a new Leader?
Is it the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (who may not even be in the Cabinet)?
Or is it the Lord Chancellor ( a post which may be soon abolished ?
As it's "The Queens Government", HRH would be in charge. Straight forward and simple as far as I can see. I'm sure she would do a better job of it.
It's just a shame she doesn't step in when the government looks at ways to make money for themselves instead of doing what "The People" want (remembers 1.5million petitioning about Traffic Chargers and now trials are due)
You labour the point of having no PM unnecessarily and inaccurately. Blair's resignation only becomes effective on the appointment of Brown. You might spend your time more profitably by reporting on the colour of Mr.Brown's tie.
The Labour Party Constitution states that the Deputy Leader (who is already HH) automtically becomes the leader (not acting leader), so the person who commands a majority in the House is Harriet Harman..... Of course the Queen can do as she wants as evidenced by the fact that the Leader of the Labout Party and the Prime Minister have not been the same for the last three days.
It is for this very purpose, among others, that we have a Privy Council.
Her Majesty would no doubt enjoy running the country in company with the Lord President of the Council, the Rt. Hon. the Baroness Amos of Brondesbury, if only for an afternoon.
One senses they would get on rather well and certainly would make a better go of it than the last or coming shower.
Maggie's just up the road if we need a stand-in.
Could the Queen refuse to kiss a new prime minister in waiting hand?
steven (#6): it's about 3.43. HTH. HAND.
Jay (#23): I'm sure that the Blairites would far rather see Thatcher in the job than Brown. Much closer to their own way of thinking.
38 has it almost right in that this is what happens if the Labour Party isn't in Government; if it is, the Cabinet meets and choses a temporary leader (& PM). Technically, though as others have pointed out the whole government resigns with the PM so are the Labour Party in Government or not?
What happens if the Queen suddenly becomes incapacitated just after accepting the PM's resignation...
Isn't the "nuclear button" just a myth anyway? The only "launch codes" are kept in the submarine captain's cabin (if I remember a 91Èȱ¬ documentary many years ago, the captain had a baseball bat to guarded the cupboard in question).
Each of the Vanguard-class submarines has a sealed, handwritten letter from Tony Blair, telling them what to do in the event of the whole government being wiped out in an attack. So no "button" in Whitehall is required. Only Mr Blair knows what his letters contain. One of Gordon Brown's first tasks as PM will be to write a new set of letters.
> What happens if the Queen suddenly becomes incapacitated just after accepting the PM's resignation...
That was the thought that occurred to me - there would be no monarch until Charles was crowned, and no PM until Charles could appoint one after his coronation...
Conceptually amusing...
We are in a new spin free world. Yet the 91Èȱ¬ already 'understands' that Beckett and Hewitt are going to lose out in the reshuffle. Start as we mean to go on eh Gordon ?