Last one to post wins the internets

[Skweeky]

Ugh - I am so sick of hypocrites. True story.

[Skiz]

I've been trying to follow the British elections just a bit but I'm confused here after the election.

Cameron is offering to split power. What's that all about?

Brown is saying he'll exit no later than September. There isn't a set date after the election that the new guy is swore in by?

[Skweeky]

Well no, because there will be two parties sharing the power, but it isn't clear yet which two parties it will be.
Historically, Brown doesn't need to resign, he is doing this out of free will.
They are waiting to see whether this will now been a Tory/Lib Dem government, in which case Camerone would probably become prime minister, or if it will be a Labour/Lib Dem government, in which case there are a number of options since Brown is stepping down as Labour leader.
There is no clear cut winner so it's impossible to have a fixed date to have the 'new guy' in place.
If no agreement can be made between the relevant parties, then it would have to go to general elections again, possibly with an emergency government in the mean time.


At least, I think this is the case, I am no expert on British politics, but in Belgium we traditionally have a hung parliament and this is the way it works over there. I assume it will be the same for Britain.

[Skweeky]

I'm also sick of people asking me whether the baby has arrived yet

Next person is getting a watermelon stuffed up their arse. True story too.

[cinephilia]

push that baby out and take a pic.

[ziggyjuarez]

vicodin is wack...drugs in general are over-rated.mmm...

[Barbarossa]

Well no, because there will be two parties sharing the power, but it isn't clear yet which two parties it will be.
Historically, Brown doesn't need to resign, he is doing this out of free will.
They are waiting to see whether this will now been a Tory/Lib Dem government, in which case Camerone would probably become prime minister, or if it will be a Labour/Lib Dem government, in which case there are a number of options since Brown is stepping down as Labour leader.
There is no clear cut winner so it's impossible to have a fixed date to have the 'new guy' in place.
If no agreement can be made between the relevant parties, then it would have to go to general elections again, possibly with an emergency government in the mean time.


At least, I think this is the case, I am no expert on British politics, but in Belgium we traditionally have a hung parliament and this is the way it works over there. I assume it will be the same for Britain.

That's pretty much just about right. Either way, this is all very bad for the lib dems, because half of their supporters don't like the Tories and the other half don't like labour. If there is another general election then I predict their support will plummet.

[Skiz]

Well no, because there will be two parties sharing the power, but it isn't clear yet which two parties it will be.
Historically, Brown doesn't need to resign, he is doing this out of free will.
They are waiting to see whether this will now been a Tory/Lib Dem government, in which case Camerone would probably become prime minister, or if it will be a Labour/Lib Dem government, in which case there are a number of options since Brown is stepping down as Labour leader.
There is no clear cut winner so it's impossible to have a fixed date to have the 'new guy' in place.
If no agreement can be made between the relevant parties, then it would have to go to general elections again, possibly with an emergency government in the mean time.


At least, I think this is the case, I am no expert on British politics, but in Belgium we traditionally have a hung parliament and this is the way it works over there. I assume it will be the same for Britain.

That's pretty much just about right. Either way, this is all very bad for the lib dems, because half of their supporters don't like the Tories and the other half don't like labour. If there is another general election then I predict their support will plummet.

Thanks for that.

So Brown doesn't have to step down? Is that because no one candidate received the majority 300 something seats needed to win outright? So instead of an election to choose a new Prime Minister, it is almost like an election to see if the country has swayed enough to elect someone else outright or keep the same fella? So usually one of two outcomes?

If another candidate wins outright then the people have spoken and such, and The UK has a new Prime Minister.

If there is no outright winner (like now) then the PM doesn't need to step down, but the proper etiquette is to follow the wishes of the voters and yield to the party with the most votes?

Do I have all that right, or at least close?

[Skiz]

Just read this too. What a clusterfuck.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ter-No-10.html

[Barbarossa]

That's pretty much just about right. Either way, this is all very bad for the lib dems, because half of their supporters don't like the Tories and the other half don't like labour. If there is another general election then I predict their support will plummet.

Thanks for that.

So Brown doesn't have to step down? Is that because no one candidate received the majority 300 something seats needed to win outright? So instead of an election to choose a new Prime Minister, it is almost like an election to see if the country has swayed enough to elect someone else outright or keep the same fella? So usually one of two outcomes?

If another candidate wins outright then the people have spoken and such, and The UK has a new Prime Minister.

If there is no outright winner (like now) then the PM doesn't need to step down, but the proper etiquette is to follow the wishes of the voters and yield to the party with the most votes?

Do I have all that right, or at least close?

Contrary to popular belief, in the UK you don't vote for the Prime Minister, even in a general election. What you're voting for is your local MP to represent you in the House of Commons.

Constitutionally, the party with a clear majority of seats in the commons (326) is the only party able to form a Government, in which case the current PM will resign, the queen is "activated" (sounds more fun than it actually is) and then invites the leader of the majority party to form a government.

In the case of a hung parliament, the current serving PM actually has first refusal on attempting to do a deal with a minority party in forming a government, so until he actually resigns, the queen is not "activated". If it becomes clear that Gordon Brown cannot form a coalition government, or a workable minority government, then he has no option but to stand down.

May 25th is the date of the Queen's Speech to parliament which sets out the policies of the new government, and parliament then votes on the queen's speech. If the queen's speech is rejected by the Commons, then that is in effect a vote of no confidence in the new government and we'll have another election. Therefore, Brown cannot govern indefinitely, and if he loses a vote of no confidence he'll be so unpopular that he and the labour party will be fucked for decades.

If all talks break down between lib/con and lib/lab I have no idea what will happen, and I don't think anyone else does either, because Cameron won't be allowed to try to form a minority government until invited to by the queen, and she can't do that until brown steps down as PM.

It is a bit bonkers actually, and is currently really pretty damaging for our democracy.