Saturday 10 May 2008

If 2010 seems a lifetime away.

I am indebted to the indefatigable Thunderdragon for drawing my attention to the current referendum on Gordon Brown.

It appears that Madame Tussauds can’t make up their minds whether to make a waxwork figure of Gordon Brown and have asked the public to vote on the matter.

As Tussauds explained

‘When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair last year, for the first time in a 150 year history, Madame Tussauds took the decision not to immediately create a figure of the current Prime Minister.

Instead we chose to wait for a General Election to confirm Gordon Brown’s status. Ten months later there is still no sign that Mr Brown intends to go to the polls – so Madame Tussauds is holding its own election to let YOU decide the question: Gordon Brown – in or out?

The ballots will be counted and on Wednesday 14th May the results released. Work will either proceed on Mr Brown’s figure or be put on hold until a General Election is called, whenever that might be’.

So if you felt robbed by not having the chance to participate in the non-election last year, you don’t live in Crewe and Nantwich or feel that 2010 won’t come soon enough please go and exercise you democratic duty here.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that shares in several mobile phone manufacturers are already climbing in anticipation of the result

5 comments:

CherryPie said...

To me he is just doing T & G which means he is there on a temporary basis until proper democratic process takes place!

Anonymous said...

At least one eye will be realistic.

Crushed said...

Interesting point.

Constitutionally, Prime Ministers AREN'T elected.

we have an elected legislature, a heridatary executive, in technical terms.
Yes, the heridatary executive is theoreticval, but the whole point is, the 'cabinet' is in theory, the inner commitee of the Privy council, not the inner commitee of parliament.
Ministers tend to be members of one or other house, but no law says they should be. In fact, the 1688 settlement originally prohibited members of the privy council being elected to the commons.

In 1905, Balfour resigned as PM and advised Edward VII to ask Campbell Bannerman to form a government. what he DIDN@t do, was ask for a dissolution.

Thus Campbell bannerman became PM, even though balfour still had a parliamentary majority.
campbell bannerman led a minority government until 1906, when of course, he won a landdslide, and Balfour himself lost his seat.

we elect our lwegislature, not our government.

Lizzie appoints the PM, on the basis of who can govern- and that obviously means, the person chosen as leader of the party holdinga commons majority.

I'd love to see a genuinely elected government.

But only if the executive and the legislature were separately chosen.

jmb said...

Trust Crushed to know all that stuff!

But no matter what, for good or bad, Brown is the Prime minister and for completeness sake Madame Tussauds should include him.

Still I'm sure this is good publicity for the museum.

James Higham said...

All things being equal, probably better not to bother.