Prime Ministers, Political Advisers and the Powers & Prerogatives of the Monarch


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An Ard Ri said:
Just watching it live on the BBC ,live at the Palace .
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Yes, and they are again speaking about Her Majesty's relationship to her PM's, and how interested and engaged she is in political life.
 
I'm just watching Theresa May arrive at Buckingham Palace to greet the Queen.

I think it was nice that David and Samantha's children were able to go to Buckingham Palace with them to greet the Queen. I had forgotten their children were so young but then again David Cameron himself was quite a young Prime Minister.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
Yes, the proceedings today are smooth and polished.
Today.
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Compared to countries like Belgium or, most recently Spain, which take several months (years ?) to form a government, the British system seems remarkably smooth.
 
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ROYAL NORWAY said:
Cameron has arrived to see Her Majesty, and the children are with him and his wife.

Nicholas Witchell and Hugo Vickers are on the BBC.
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Not living in the UK myself, I had never seen Mr Cameron's children before. Unlike Tony Blair, who was often seen with his children, I suspect Mr Cameron never wanted to use his nice family as an electoral asset.

Jacknch said:
From the BBC - including a picture of our new Prime Minister with the Queen:

Theresa May becomes UK prime minister - BBC News
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According to the BBC, Mrs May was in the Palace for about half an hour. Unless the Queen kept her waiting, that was a rather long audience by the Queen's standards, wasn't it ? I suspect Her Majesty had many questions to ask, or maybe Mrs May had a lot to say and the Queen was eager to hear it.
 
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Some photos from Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth Ii Theresa May Pictures and Photos | Getty Images

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BBC's coverage were far better than the Sky News coverage. BBC talked about the Queen's constitutional role and how interested and engaged she is in what that happens in the country. Both Nicholas Witchell and Hugo Vickers commented on how the Queen's relationship with her new PM was going to be, and they believed that HM had hard questions for Theresa May. They also talked about her relationship to former PM's including Margaret Thatcher.

Sky News coverage was a bit dull. I know that some people like Alistair Bruce, and yes he is a god commentator, but he is not a good royal commentator.
 
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ROYAL NORWAY said:
BBC's coverage were far better than the Sky News coverage. BBC talked about the Queen's constitutional role and how interested and engaged she is in what that happens in the country. Both Nicholas Witchell and Hugo Vickers commented on how HM relationship with her new PM was going to be, and they believed that the Queen had hard questions for Theresa May. They also talked about her relationship to former PM's including Margaret Thatcher.

Sky News coverage was a bit dull. I know that some people like Alistair Bruce, and yes he is a god commentator, but he is not a good royal commentator.
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Sky News was/is the only choice I have to watch. We stream our TV service via Roku, and Sky News is offered, but BBC is not. :(
 
ROYAL NORWAY said:
BBC's coverage were far better than the Sky News coverage. BBC talked about the Queen's constitutional role and how interested and engaged she is in what that happens in the country. Both Nicholas Witchell and Hugo Vickers commented on how the Queen's relationship with her new PM was going to be, and they believed that the HM had hard questions for Theresa May. They also talked about her relationship to former PM's including Margaret Thatcher.

Sky News coverage was a bit dull. I know that some people like Alistair Bruce, and yes he is a god commentator, but he is not a good royal commentator.
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I preferred the BBC coverage too - Alistair Bruce tends to irritate me. I believe he thinks he knows everything about the royals being that he used to be an equerry to be (or still is, i'm not sure) to Prince Edward and is James' godfather. I suppose he feels he has "inside knowledge" but I find him a bit boring...

I liked the photo of the Queen her new PM. I am glad we now have had 2 female Prime Minister's, even if one of them was not technically voted in by us.
 
Molly2101 said:
I preferred the BBC coverage too - Alistair Bruce tends to irritate me. I believe he thinks he knows everything about the royals being that he used to be an equerry to be (or still is, i'm not sure) to Prince Edward and is James' godfather. I suppose he feels he has "inside knowledge" but I find him a bit boring...

I liked the photo of the Queen her new PM. I am glad we now have had 2 female Prime Minister's, even if one of them was not technically voted in by us.
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I agree with everything! My problem with Alastair Bruce is this: For events involving HM and the royal family, Huw Edwards, Nicholas Witchell, Hugo Vickers, Robert Hardman, Richard Fitzwilliams, Rafe Heydel-Mankoo, Kate Williams and Dickie Arbiter etc provides commentary on BBC.

I know that both I and some others here complained about some of the commentators during the BBC's coverage of the 90th birthday, but many of the above persons were also providing commentary and the tone was very pro royal.

Sky news used Alastair Bruce, and he said the same as he always does. I can give one example: During the Jubilee in 2012, the above experts and palace sources said the Queen had been overwhelmed, while Bruce said he didn't know how she would feel, because he wasn't any Queen expert.

And today, the BBC experts said the new PM had much to learn from HIM, while Alastair Bruce didn't say so much.
 
Mbruno said:
According to the BBC, Mrs May was in the Palace for about half an hour. Unless the Queen kept her waiting, that was a rather long audience by the Queen's standards, wasn't it ? I suspect Her Majesty had many questions to ask, or maybe Mrs May had a lot to say and the Queen was eager to hear it.
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When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair as PM their first audience last an hour. I think David Cameron's first one lasted about 30mins as well. Also to note the Queen is soon to go to Balmoral on holidays and the traditional weekly audience only takes place when Parliament is sitting so there may not be many wednesday meetings in July left so i am sure there were questions to be asked and details to discuss with the holiday break in mind
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
Very weird that suddenly the main characters of the Referendum (Johnson, Gove, Farage, Cameron and probably Corbyn) disappeared and the British people are now led by a lady for which only 53.855 voters from her Maidenhead constituency were able to vote for (and 35.453 indeed did so). The leader of one of the biggest democracies in the world effectively lacks an independent Nationwide electoral mandate as PM.
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You show a rather deliberate and determined fundamental lack of understanding of the British political system; a system which is one of the most successful and stable in the world, copied to a lesser or greater extent by many democracies on this planet.

In the UK we do not directly elect our PMs. We elect an MP for our constituency - in a free and fair electoral process. That MP 99.999% of the time is part of a political party. The party or parties who can command a majority in the House of Commons forms a government. That party's leader, freely chosen by its members, becomes PM.

To put it bluntly, Teresa May is PM because she is the elected leader of a party who garnered 11,334,576 votes at the last General Election, almost 2,000,000 more than the next biggest party. That's where she gets her mandate.
 
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Several posts have been edited to remove discussion about Brexit / the EU Referendum. Lets stay on topic please.
 
PetticoatLane said:
You show a rather deliberate and determined fundamental lack of understanding of the British political system; a system which is one of the most successful and stable in the world, copied to a lesser or greater extent by many democracies on this planet.

In the UK we do not directly elect our PMs. We elect an MP for our constituency - in a free and fair electoral process. That MP 99.999% of the time is part of a political party. The party or parties who can command a majority in the House of Commons forms a government. That party's leader, freely chosen by its members, becomes PM.

To put it bluntly, Teresa May is PM because she is the elected leader of a party who garnered 11,334,576 votes at the last General Election, almost 2,000,000 more than the next biggest party. That's where she gets her mandate.
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Beautifully explained.

I always use the 2007 Australian election to explain this system as it really shows how it works.

Imagine that all the electorates in Australia other than Bennelong had been won by the Liberal/National Coalition and that Bennelong had been won, as it was, by Maxine McKew - who would then have been the Australian Prime Minister. Why that electorate? That was the electorate of the Prime Minister before the election - John Howard. In other words only the people of one electorate actually voted for Mr Howard - or any other candidate for any party - and then they are trusted to choose their leader from amongst themselves.

The system has worked very well for many years in many countries and has been evolving since the first parliament in 1399 and certainly since the appointment of the first PM under George I.

It should be noted as well, that in Australia, the post of Prime Minister isn't even mentioned in the Constitution - it is implied and assumed - based on the British model.
 
Theresa May met The Queen for a meeting of the Privy Council this evening at Buckingham Palace
 
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Was she already a Privy Council member as Home Secretary or did she just become one as PM?


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community
 
She was already a member. All members of the cabinet are Privy Councillors.

Theresa May was present when William and Camilla were introduced to the Council on 9 June.
 
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More information from yesterday's Privy Council meeting.

The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, was sworn First Lord of the Treasury at Buckingham Palace and kissed hands upon her appointment.

The Queen declared in Council, Rt. Hon. David Lidington MP, as Lord President of the Privy Council, was sworn and kissed hands upon his appointment.

The Baroness Evans of Bowes Park took the Oath of Office as Lord Privy Seal, kissed hands upon her appointment and received the Privy Seal.

After the Council, the Rt. Hon. Patrick McLoughlin MP, had an audience with The Queen, was sworn Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, kissed hands upon his appointment and received from Her Majesty the Seals of Office.
 
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It never fails to bring a smile to my face when I see HM and her government and her advisors stick to the "old traditional" ways of how things are done. Politicians and advisors may come and go over the years but the traditions live on.
 
Queen Elizabeth II opens each new session of Parliament in November. Has November always been the month she opened Parliament?
 
The Queen opens Parliament in May or June usually. It used to be held at other times of the year if a general election was called early.
 
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CyrilVladisla said:
Queen Elizabeth II opens each new session of Parliament in November. Has November always been the month she opened Parliament?
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It used to be November but was moved to May when the UK went to 5 year fixed terms in parliament with the elections in May every 5 years.
 
Prime Minister Theresa May is spending the weekend at Balmoral with The Queen.

Via BBC
 
Rudolph said:
More information from yesterday's Privy Council meeting.

The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, was sworn First Lord of the Treasury at Buckingham Palace and kissed hands upon her appointment.

The Queen declared in Council, Rt. Hon. David Lidington MP, as Lord President of the Privy Council, was sworn and kissed hands upon his appointment.

The Baroness Evans of Bowes Park took the Oath of Office as Lord Privy Seal, kissed hands upon her appointment and received the Privy Seal.

After the Council, the Rt. Hon. Patrick McLoughlin MP, had an audience with The Queen, was sworn Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, kissed hands upon his appointment and received from Her Majesty the Seals of Office.
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Does the Queen actually sign an order in council making those appointments or is an oral proclamation enough followed by kissing hands ?

Just as a comparison, in Belgium, Spain or the Netherlands, any ministerial appointment actually requires a signed royal decree.
 
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The PM announces who will be the Ministers of the Crown. The Queen has to accept the PM's ministers. Whether there is some document appointing them I don't know but they are in office virtually as soon as the PM announces his/her cabinet ministers. It could be a day or more before they go to the Queen (or in the other realms the GG/Governors) for the formal 'kissing of hands'.
 
Theresa May set to go to war with The Queen after the Prime Minister scraps seven royal charters – Royal Central

Correct me if I am wrong, please: The issue is that The PM is in effect, trying to take over Royal Charters? Or more accurately, grabbing the right to do away with them. And that if done with these 7 research charters, it could be done with anything?

The article states, "A royal charter is independent from the government and gives scientists the freedom to carry out research of their choice." That may be true but they still have to find funding and the charter does not guarantee that. Any scientist with or without charter can do research if they can get it funded (and stay within regulatory bounds).

What part of this dust up am I not seeing? Can't May simply organize oversight of federal research any way she pleases? What does it gain her to muck about with Royal Charters?
 
Mrs May is already strechting royal prerogatives (executed by the Government in name of the Queen) in attempts to keep "the Sovereign" Parliament out of crucial decisionmaking. It is exactly this use (or abuse?) of royal prerogatives which led to a High Court ruling that Parliament must be heard indeed and must give consent before Government can officially notify the EU of its intention to leave by triggering Article 50.

The UK Government has gone in appeal to that ruling.
 
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