Democracy
Yes, Lord David Cameron Could Come Back as Prime Minister – and he Wouldn’t Need to Run for MP
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron – or a more controversial right-wing figure – could oust Rishi Sunak and become prime minister without having to win a single vote, analysis by the House of Lords Library suggests.
The research for former Green Party Leader Baroness Natalie Bennett, seen by Byline Times, comes as Sunak’s approval ratings hit a record low this week.
While the Conservative Party languishes in the polls, Sunak’s own personal approval rating has plunged to -54%.
The Ipsos Mori poll, released on Monday, shows that support for the Conservatives has dropped to its lowest point since its records began in the 1970s, with only 20% of UK voters currently backing the party.
The 27-point lead for Keir Starmer's Labour Party may well spark murmurings of revolt among Conservative MPs and members, desperate to claw back some support and avoid electoral oblivion later this year.
The poll suggests the Conservatives could win just a few dozen seats in the next general election – putting them behind the Scottish National Party or Liberal Democrats after an election, and hundreds of seats behind Labour.
It would mark a catastrophic cut on the 351 seats from its 2019 victory achieved under Boris Johnson. The Conservative right has long suggested ‘bringing back Boris’, though at this stage anyone could be seen by voters as preferable than the current Prime Minister.
On Monday, the Daily Mail reported a confidential gathering of Conservative MPs was held in Parliament last week, where they were presented with the profile of anonymous alternative party leader figures, with one dubbed 'Candidate X' portrayed as the potential saviour for the party in the upcoming election.
Attendees were reportedly told that the profile matched one of the candidates vying to succeed Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party.
This briefing included findings from a survey conducted by Whitestone Insight involving 13,500 voters. Polling based on anonymous untested profiles are very different to real people with skeletons in the closet who have faced opposition attacks.
However, it does show that some in the party’s upper-echelons are now willing to consider another leadership change before the election.
Former Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost – a net zero critic and so-called climate sceptic – fits the bill for the supposed ‘most popular’ mystery candidate.
The i newspaper also reported last month that some Conservative grandees were discussing replacing Sunak with Cameron, the former Prime Minister who led the remain campaign into defeat during the 2016 EU Referendum.
It is often assumed that Cameron – or any other public figure – would have to run for a parliamentary seat in order to be appointed to the top job. But the new Lords library analysis for Baroness Bennett suggests that this is merely a convention, which could be overridden without any change of law.
Bennett said that the finding highlights the “creaking failure that is the antiquated, undemocratic constitution”.
In his study 'Choosing a Prime Minister’, constitution expert Professor Rodney Brazier highlights that the monarch can appoint anyone as prime minister under the royal prerogative, a power vested in the monarch since at least 1189, which remains unaltered by Parliament.
There are no formal rules for appointment and no formal legal limits on who can be appointed prime minister.
The title 'Prime minister’ itself wasn't officially used until the late 19th Century; while the role, including its powers and duties, lacks a legal definition – even after the Minister of the Crown Act 1937, which first referenced the position to allow for an enhanced salary.
The roles of the prime minister and cabinet are primarily governed by convention rather than law, as outlined in the official Cabinet Manual. This includes the prime minister being the head of the government due to their ability to command confidence from the House of Commons and, by extension, the electorate. In theory, the sovereign can appoint whoever they wish to this role – though it would trigger a constitutional crisis and undoubtedly legal challenges.
Although prime ministers largely came from the House of Lords until the 20th Century, modern convention dictates that they should be a member of the House of Commons. The practice was solidified by instances like Sir Alec Douglas-Home renouncing his peerage in 1963 to serve as Conservative Prime Minister from the Commons.
Despite the unlikelihood of a prime minister serving from the House of Lords in contemporary times, analysis in 2023 by Dr Conor Farrington in Political Quarterly suggested that, constitutionally, nothing prevents that from occurring.
Researchers for the House of Lords Library told Bennett: “It does not appear that, beyond the convention, there is any formal mechanism preventing a member of the House of Lords from becoming prime minister.”
She told Byline Times: “That the UK’s politics is broken is obvious. It is easy to blame individuals for that, and I do, but at the heart is a broken system, an uncodified constitution assembled by centuries of historical accident, profoundly undemocratic, and incapable, as the past decade has shown so clearly, of delivering stable, secure government.
“You would think that a second Cameron prime ministership would be an impossibility, but it clearly is not, either legally or practically. The Tories, from the shortest prime ministership to the most disastrous referendum, have set new constitutional ‘standards’, so it is impossible to rule them out, returning to 1902, the last time a prime minister was in the Lords.”
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Video: pensioner among 3 peaceful anti-genocide protesters arrested in Hastings
State repression of civic rights and protection of weapons manufacturers continues to escalate
A pensioner and two other protestors were arrested by police on Thursday 29 February during a peaceful demonstration outside the General Dynamics arms factory in Hastings, East Sussex. The local people were among a broad coalition of community groups that came together to protest against Britain’s role in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The three were arrested and taken to Hastings police station where they were held for nearly fourteen hours before being charged with aggravated trespass and then released on bail. They will appear before magistrates on April 3.
Laurie Holden, 71, a retired train driver from Burwash, was one of those arrested at the demonstration. He said:
It is outrageous that the police are treating us as criminals. We are not the criminals here – we are highlighting the criminal complicity of our government and arms companies in continuing to supply arms to Israel which is in the dock for genocide in Gaza. We will always stand on the side of the people of Palestine.
The Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign [HDPSC] united with representatives of Jewish groups, trade union bodies, Quakers, climate justice groups, parent groups and political parties to draw attention to the part Hastings is playing in arming Israel.
HDPSC Chair Katy Colley said:
Our brave and principled friends have shown enormous courage in the face of disproportionate and heavy-handed policing of a peaceful, community-led protest.
In January, the International Court of Justice put Israel on trial for genocide in Gaza but since then the slaughter and starvation have worsened. Over 30,000 are dead and thousands more will die if this continues. Yesterday Israeli troops gunned down starving civilians in the north of Gaza as they waited for food – over 100 were killed and 700 injured in the ‘the Flour Massacre’. This latest horror underscores the urgency of stopping all arms sales to Israel. UN experts have warned that any arms transfers to Israel will breach international law and ordered all countries to stop all arms sales immediately.
Our government has refused to halt export licenses to Israel so it is our duty as citizens to stand up for peace, international law and human rights.
We will not stand by as the UK continues to arm this genocide of the Palestinian people. It must end now.’
The protest started at 7am at the Sidney Little Road factory, one of the two General Dynamics sites in Hastings, timed to coincide with workers as they arrived for work. Demonstrators held placards, sung songs for ‘Ceaefire Now’ and handed out leaflets which informed workers of their right to refuse to take part in handling components used in breach of international law.
Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza has run for five months so far, killing almost 40,000 people and wounding and maiming double that number. The UN is now warning that a quarter of the population is at risk of death from famine and the World Health Organisation has said that more than a million are starving. Protests have been mounted outside arms factories all over the country, including in Kent, Leicester, Bristol, Bournemouth, Glasgow, Cambridge, Brighton, London, Lancashire, Belfast and Monmouthshire, to demand an end to UK’s ongoing complicity and enabling of genocide. This is HDPSC’s fourth protest at General Dynamics’ sites in Hastings since the campaign began.
According to the organisers, almost all of the ‘MK80’ bombs being dropped on Gaza are made by General Dynamics, which is the 5th biggest arms company in the world. The Hastings facilities provide avionic systems for fighter planes and tactical communications equipment for ground vehicles.
At the demo, Leah Levane of Jewish Voice for Labour said that Israel could no longer ‘act with impunity’.
It is shocking that the UK government is granting arms licences to Israel,’ she said. ‘This makes the UK partners in the occupation and the genocide in Gaza. As a Jewish organisation, we are one of several Jewish groups in the UK and the many more across the world who are protesting loud and clear – NOT IN OUR NAME.
Jen Rouse, representing Parents for Future Hastings & St Leonards, said:
We’re here today because as parents we cannot stand by and watch as our government supports a genocide of children.
The thought of our own kids having to live through even a fraction of the terror and trauma that Israel inflicts on Gazan children every day is unbearable. So the only right thing for all UK parents to do is to be here today, demanding an immediate end to the bloodshed. We will never give up until we see a free Palestine.
Simon Hester, Chair of Hastings & District Trades Union Council, added:
Hastings & District Trades Union Council supports the calls for end to all arms sales to Israel and for an immediate ceasefire to end the genocide in Gaza.
We demand that General Dynamics UK stop supplying equipment to the Israeli army or to get out of Hastings. We stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Olivia Cavanagh of Hastings Community of Sanctuary and Hastings Supports Refugees said:
We continue to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank.
We support an embargo on arms sales from the UK to Israel and stand with the Hastings community to call on the local General Dynamics factories to stop supplying arms to Israel and to act to end the unprecedented killing of Palestinian civilians.’
Yunis Smith from Hastings Green Party said:
Years from now the children of the world will ask what did you do to stop this calamity? I for one hope I will have a good enough answer!
And Chris Goodchild of Hastings Quakers said:
The poor tell us who we are, the prophets who we can be. Yet we kill the poor and kill the prophets. We are all Palestinian and civil disobedience is divine obedience. Stop arming Genocide.
The arrest form part of an escalating campaign of repression and demonisation of peaceful protesters demonstrating against genocide. PM Rishi Sunak, who like ‘opposition’ leader Keir Starmer has constantly backed Israel’s murderous actions, has today smeared demonstrators as divisive and hateful and has threatened to deport those who fall foul of what he considers the limits of acceptable protest.
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This is dark stuff – how the right is controlling politics:
Although effectively none of that narrative is reflected in the views of the British population… This fifteen minutes is I suggest, well worth watching: Peter Oborne shows how the narrative is being swerved and unfortunately (or purposely?) Starmer and the Speaker (certainly the Speaker) have a leading role – we’re being told that Parliament is... Read more
Gina Miller and wellbeing
Gina Miller has issued a manifesto for the parliamentary seat that she aims to fight, which is Epsom and Ewell: That ‘all policy decisions might be approached through the lens of health, happiness and wellbeing’ is pretty basic – but these days must be regarded as decidedly radical and right! Wellbeing community hubs and preventative... Read more
Rishi Sunak Brushes Off Calls to Commit to an ‘Honest’ Election Campaign
The Prime Minister has ignored pleas for his party to sign up to independent fact-checker Full Fact’s pledge for an honest election campaign – while his MPs appeared to laugh at the suggestion on Wednesday.
At Prime Minister's Questions this week, Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts called on Rishi Sunak to commit to "honest campaigning" at the upcoming general election. The date of the general election date is unclear but millions of people will vote for mayors and many local councils in England this May.
Plaid Cymru, Northern Ireland’s Alliance Party, the Green Party, and the SDLP (also NI) have all signed Full Fact’s pledge to commit to standards for honest campaigning during the next election. It is not clear yet whether Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the SNP will sign the pledge.
The non-profit watchdog says it’s a “positive step towards tackling the bad information that damages public debate”. However, the group is concerned that when asked directly to sign Full Fact’s pledge during PMQs, the Prime Minister “brushed off a crucial opportunity to rebuild public trust in our democracy in an election year”.
Many Conservative MPs openly laughed at the request from Liz Saville Roberts.
Just 9% of the UK public trust politicians to tell the truth, according to Full Fact.
Chris Morris, its chief executive, said: “With public trust in politics at its lowest levels for 40 years, the chance to take a stand for honest campaigning was brushed off in Parliament. Party leaders need to take a hard look at their duty to restore trust in our democracy. Full Fact wants to rebuild faith in politics – don’t they?”
Full Fact recently challenged misleading Conservative leaflets that omitted key words from a headline, and a Lib Dem leaflet that misleadingly attributed a quote.
After the exchange, Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts slammed the Conservatives for alleged “egregious misleading campaigning”.
She said: "Rishi Sunak's response in PMQs yesterday should worry us all. Given the opportunity to commit to an honest and fair election, he evaded the question. What's more, his Tory colleagues responded by laughing.
“Our democracy is already in a perilous place after years of unchecked misinformation and dirty campaign tactics by the Tories. For 14 years, they have sown divisions and exploited people’s fears for short-term gain.
“I worry that – given the Tories' current poor polling ratings – their desperation will lead to the upcoming election being the dirtiest and most divisive yet. This concern was only reinforced by the Prime Minister's non-answer yesterday."
More below...
The Welsh pro-independence party, which has a cooperation agreement on some issues with the Welsh Labour Government, says Welsh Conservatives have repeatedly made “dishonest” claims in recent days relating to agriculture and business support in Wales.
Welsh Conservatives have claimed that Plaid Cymru are in coalition with Labour, that Plaid Cymru is cutting the rural affairs budget, and that Plaid Cymru is cutting business support in Wales.
“None of these claims are true," a spokesperson said. "Plaid Cymru is an opposition party in the Senedd, working with the Labour Welsh Government only on limited policy areas. There are no Plaid Cymru ministers in the Welsh Government."
Welsh Conservatives have repeatedly claimed that Plaid Cymru are in coalition with Welsh Labour, tweeting recently that “the Labour Government and their coalition partners in Plaid Cymru are not listening to Welsh farmers” and hitting out at “Labour and Plaid's Sustainable Farming Scheme” which has faced protests.
Full Fact is calling on all major parties across the country to:
The PMQs Exchange
Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts told Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday: “Plaid Cymru has signed Full Fact’s pledge for an honest general election campaign.
“One of their asks is to renounce deceptive campaigning tactics. There is evidence of egregious, misleading campaigning in Wales and elsewhere by the Conservatives in recent weeks. We all have a responsibility to campaign honestly, because the alternative is to be complicit in dismantling democracy. Therefore, will the Prime Minister sign Full Fact’s pledge for an honest election?”
His reply appeared to ignore the fact that Saville Roberts doesn’t represent Labour.
He said: “I was pleased to be in Wales last week and these are the facts on the ground. The Labour-run Welsh NHS is performing the worst in the United Kingdom, small Welsh businesses including restaurants are facing a crippling rise in their business rates.
“And indeed, Welsh farmers are being decimated by the plans of the Welsh Labour Government. Those are the facts in Wales, and we're going to continue to point them out at every opportunity.”
Do you have a story that needs highlighting? Get in touch by emailing josiah@bylinetimes.com
The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power – review
Caty Borum‘s The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power considers how comedy intersects with activism and drives social change. Borum’s accessible text draws from case studies and personal experience to demonstrate how comedy can successfully challenge norms, amplify marginalised voices and foster dialogue on issues from racism to climate change, writes Christine Sweeney.
Can you teach comedy? Can a sense of humour, charisma, delivery, stage presence and timing be learned? Comedy programmes popping up in universities across the world would say, “Yes, yes it can”. If the question is, “can you teach comedy as a tool for social change and civic power?”, Caty Borum has an entire book which aims to provide an answer.
The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power by Caty Borum explores the intersection of comedy and social activism, delving into the question of whether comedy can be taught and used as a tool for social change. Borum discusses the role of creativity, cultural power, and participatory media in driving social change and how postmillennial social-justice organisations collaborate with comedians. Serving as a follow-up to Borum’s work co-written with Lauren Feldman in 2020, A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice, this new book is a how-to manual with case studies on integrating comedy into social justice efforts.
[The] book is a how-to manual with case studies on integrating comedy into social justice efforts.
Borum reflects on her own comedy career, drawing from experiences working with sitcom legend Norman Lear on get-out-the-vote campaigns in the late ’90s and early 2000s like Declare Yourself. While these campaigns engaged young people and demonstrated the power of comedic efforts, Borum notes that the impact on electoral outcomes was limited. Though 2004 saw the largest turnout (nearly 50 per cent) of voters aged between 18 and 24, that demographic still accounted for just 17 per cent of the total voter population, and Bush beat his democratic rival John Kerry to secure a second term.
Although mobilising the public through comedy for direct political action may be too great an ask, Borum emphasises comedy’s narrative power in shaping public understanding and influencing cultural attitudes. The book explores the evolution of comedy in the participatory media age, especially its increased visibility during the pandemic and its role in challenging societal norms. The rise of independently produced content on social media has challenged the authority of networks and studios, boosting the democratisation and creative agency of comedy “content”. Though Borum acknowledges the benefits of social media for amplifying marginalised creators, she falls short of critically examining its impact on mental health, the spread of misinformation and biased algorithms. Despite this, she underscores comedy’s potential as a cultural intervention empowered by the participatory networked media age.
Positive deviance, according to Borum, is the quiet power of comedy that journalism lacks.
The book discusses the comedic response to political events, particularly the rise of Donald Trump, positioning comedy as a force for social change by offering fresh ways of undermining the status quo. According to Borum, comedians say what journalists cannot, thinking of Michelle Wolf, who at the 2018 White House Correspondents dinner pointed out the mutually beneficial cycle of journalists covering then-President Trump’s near-constant news feed. Positive deviance, according to Borum, is the quiet power of comedy that journalism lacks.
Comedy also serves as a creative space for marginalised voices, providing an alternative narrative and critique that traditional journalism may lack. Borum highlights the importance of optimism in comedy. Comedy provides a space for an alternate reality, for example the TV series Schitt’s Creek portrays a world where the LGBTQ community is fully accepted. In this sense, optimism can be a survival tactic. As Borum suggests,
[C]omedy as a force for social justice breaks down social barriers and opens space to discuss taboo topics; persuades because it is entertaining and makes us feel activating emotions of hope and optimism; serves as a mechanism for traditionally marginalized people to assert and celebrate cultural citizenship through media representation; acts as both social critique and civic imagination to envision a better world; and builds resilience to help power continued struggle against oppression.
Borum provides an in-depth, well-researched review of cultural entertainment activists, tracking the power of the entertainment industry to affect how people feel. “Pioneering cultural entertainment activists pushed for ‘mainstreaming’ oppressed people – including and normalizing their lives and lived experiences in entertainment.”
The book is something of a documented workshop, drawing from the experiences and insights of leaders across social justice activism and comedy to emphasise the power of media.
The book is something of a documented workshop, drawing from the experiences and insights of leaders across social justice activism and comedy to emphasise the power of media. Its instructive aspect lies in Borum’s description of running comedy workshops and writers’ rooms, offering a practical guide for both comedians and social activists. These collaborative spaces aim to translate key messages into comedy routines through storytelling, making complex issues more accessible. The author uses climate change and the opioid epidemic as examples, demonstrating how comedy can humanise and mobilise audiences to address pressing challenges.
Borum examines a case study of youth political activist group Hip Hop Caucus which aims to communicate a basic awareness of climate change to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Colour, who are the most affected by, and yet contribute the least to, climate change in the US (and globally). Even if this comedy work may not reach the oil companies responsible for the brunt of climate change, it serves to educate and mobilise audiences. In this sense, the messaging of the book goes, culture is important because it is the mechanism by which we relate to each other. Although it’s hard to demonstrate the material impact of comedy and the entertainment industry overall on political dynamics, communicating the mechanisms translating individual experiences in collective narrative storytelling to foster understanding and support is convincing.
Culture is important because it is the mechanism by which we relate to each other.
The Revolution Will Be Hilarious emphasises the power of comedy as a force for social justice and provides practical insights into its integration with activism. She effectively shows how collaboration between the two has the power to start meaningful conversations around racism, climate change, economic disenfranchisement, addiction and more. Borum’s work serves as a valuable guide for media and communication theorists, entertainment industry professionals, social activists, and comedians, showcasing the potential of collaboration between comedy and activism in sparking meaningful conversations on various societal issues.
This post gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Image Credit: Paul Craft on Shutterstock.
Met confirms arrest of Gaza protester at Thornberry’s office
Outrage among activists at anti-genocide protest
The Metropolitan Police Service has confirmed the arrest of a protester on Monday night at what outraged other protesters have said was a lively but entirely peaceful protest, outside the Islington office of Shadow Attorney Emily Thornberry, against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the Labour regime’s support for it.
A Met spokesperson told Skwawkbox that a woman had been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and bailed ‘pending further investigations’:
A small demonstration was held in Islington High Street during the evening of Monday, 26 February. A woman was arrested at the scene on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. She was taken into custody and later released on bail pending further enquiries. Next due on a date in April.
Protesters against genocide and for the human rights of Palestinians have been demonised by politicians and supporters of Israel for supposed ‘hate speech’ since Israel’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank accelerated after the Hamas raid and the Israel military’s well-known – but ignored by the UK ‘mainstream’ media and politicians – killing of ‘immense’ numbers of its own citizens. The Tory government, aided by ‘opposition leader’ Keir Starmer, have continued to attack the civil rights of the UK people to protest.
Right-wing MPs, along with pro-Israel campaigners, continue to call for tougher police action against demonstrators, despite the overwhelmingly peaceful nature of protests.
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Government itself has ensured that it is dysfuntional:
What is further remarkable is that the inspector of BorderForce is the only ‘services’ inspector who does not have the right to publish his own reports – for an immigration obsessed government, well, That is clearly a desire to control the narrative and how…... Read more
Identity Politics has turned the Conservatives on themselves
Rather remarkably. we are now told that while the Prime Minister thinks Lee Anderson’s recent comments were “wrong” he “does not believe he is racist”. So why cannot Sunak say he has suspended the whip on the basis of religious hatred then? He is a complete prisoner of Conservative factionalism and so meanwhile has done... Read more
Bank of England likely to promote recession
An analyst from the research company TS Lombard suggests that the Bank of England’s interest rate policy is highly likely to plunge Britain into a recession. Indeed even the Telegraph article in which the reference is also contained is headlined ‘The Bank of England risks pushing Britain into a depression’, and so is of the... Read more