By the time I settle down to write next week’s column, we will have a new prime minister. Just as, if not more, importantly will be the new ministers. It will be interesting to see who has made the cut, and who is out. But who the new PM selects is important: it not only sets the tone of government, but reflects the views of the incoming PM.
Of course, he or she will have had plenty of time to think about it. Indeed, given the absolute vacuum of policy and leadership since early July, when Boris Johnson resigned after half his government quit over his leadership, many would agree far too much time.
I guess someone in the central party may have thought it OK, given the parliamentary recess over the summer, to use that time to have a proper airing of ideas amongst the contenders. I think in retrospect, that was a bad idea. Two months of zombie government is never good and whilst a party in opposition might be allowed as much time as it needs to select a leader to drive it to the next stage, a party in government has a first priority to govern.
This process is, though, all about a party selecting its leader. For the winner next Monday, becoming prime minister only happens after the queen allows it. He or she must convince her that they can form a government. It is this constitutional delicacy that leads to many feeling left out, suggesting that we should not allow the PM to be selected by a small number of Conservative members. That wider choice is offered at a general election and whilst many said it was wholly wrong that Boris Johnson should not be made PM without a wider democratic mandate, he certainly showed he had one with his extraordinary majority back in 2019 – just a few months after Conservatives polled under 10% at the Euro elections. And before that, Theresa May, crowned as leader in 2016 after Andrea Leadsom pulled out of the challenge, lost the Conservative Majority when she tested her mandate in 2017.
It’s taken us a long time to come up with this type of democracy and attracts criticism with people confused by different approaches. We do not, however, have a presidential system and that is why we have had such an odd couple of months.