She’s Had Her Oats

Ed Dutton will be pleased to know that Catherine West is a Quaker. She neither wants to be Prime Minister, nor will she be. But on 8 December 2021, she asked, “Will the Prime Minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November?” Boris Johnson replied, “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.” We know the rest. It is always the quiet ones that you have to watch.

No, the Cabinet cannot elect a Leader of the Labour Party. But it would nominate a Prime Minister if the incumbent resigned, or indeed died. And it would hardly be as if the King would say no to that name. Already in office as Prime Minister, that person would then go into a Labour Leadership Election in the extremely unlikely event that there might be one, a contest rendered even more improbable by the fact that the rules had been changed to make it as good as impossible for more than one candidate to be nominated for Leader of the Labour Party.