Questions 97
The
stat
e ope ning of Parliam
ent
These photographs shovv
two
scenes
from the annual state
opening
of
Parliament,This is an example
of
a
traditionalceremony
which
reminds MPs
of
their special status
and
ofthcir
'togetherness'. In the
first
photograph, 'Black Rod', a
servant
of
the Queen, is knocking
on the door
of
the House
of
Com
mons
and demanding that the
MPs let the Queen
come
in and tell
them what 'her' government is
going
to
do in the
com
ing year.The
Commons
always refuse her entry.
This is
because. in the severueenth
century, Charles I
once
burst in
to
the chamber and tried to arrest
some
MPs. Ever since tac n. the monarch
has not been allowed
to
enter
the
Commons. Instead, the MPs agree
to
come
through
to
the House
of
Lordsand listen
to
the monarch in
there. This is what they are
doing
in
the second photograph.
Bytradition
they always
come
through in pairs,
each pair comprising MPs from
two
different parties.
/
people agree that having two Houses of Parliam ent is a
goo
d idea,
and that this seco nd house could have a more us
ef
ul function i
fit
were constituted in a different way (without the hereditary element).
However, at this tim e, nobody can agree on what w
ou
ld be the best
way to reform the
com
position of the second house, and so, despite
recentreforms which have reduced the hereditary element, it remains
as a fascinating (
but
valuable) anachronism in a m
od
ern state.
QUESTIO NS
I Where
would
an MP
of
the Scottish Nat
iona
list
party probably sit in the House
of
Commons'
2 In what ways do the seating arrangemen ts,
general facilities and pay for British MPs differ
from those
of
parliamentary representatives in
your
countr
y?
Why
are they
diff
erent?
3 Many MPs in
mo
dern ti
mes
are experts in
various fields
of
government. Because
of
the
complexity
of
mo
dern government, this is
something
wh
ich seems to be necessary. But it
could be said to have disadvantages, t
oo.
What
do you think these disadvantages are?
4 When the Commons decide to vote, they do not
vote immediately. Instead, a 'division bell' rings
through
out
the Palace
of
We
stmin
ster, after
which
MPs have ten minutes in w hich
to
vote.
Why
?
5 Many
of
the
member
s
of
the Hou se
of
L
ord
s are
hereditary arits
ocr
ars.Wh y do the British
put
up wit h such an undemocratic eleme nt in their
parliamentary system?
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Look at the table below.You can see that the electoral system used
in Britain doesn't seem to add up. In the
20
0 1 election, the
Labour party received only
four out
of
every ten votes, but it won
more than six ou t
of
every ten seats in the Hou se of Com
mo
ns. It
won
two-and-a.)lalf times as many seats as the Conservative party,
even tho
ugh
it received less than one-and -a-half times as man y
votes.The Liberal Democrat party did very badly out
of
the system.
It got almost a fifth
of
the vote,
but
won
only
on
e in thirteen
of
the
seats in the Commons.And yet it was much luckier than it had been
in the past.The arithmetical absurdity of the system becomes clear
wh
en we compare the fortunes of the Liberal Democrats this time
wit h their fortunes in the
199
2 election. On that occasion , it
go
t the
same
pro
portion of the total vote
but
fewer than half the number of
seats.What's going on ?As is often the case
wi
th British institutions,
the apparent ly illogical figures are the result
of
histor
y.
The system
Unli ke in any other country in the world. the system of political
representation that is use d in Britain ev
olv
ed before the coming
of
democracy. It also evolved before national issues became
mo
re
important to pe
op
le than localones. In theory, the House of
Commo
ns
is simply a gathering of
peop
le
wh
o each represent a particular place
in the kingdom. Originally, it was not the concern
of
anybody in
government as
to
how each representative was c
hose
n. That was a
matter for each t
own
or
co
unty to decide for itself.
No
t until the
nineteenth century were laws passed about how elections were
to
be
con
duc
ted (
E>
The
evo
lut
io
nofthe
el
ect
oral
syste
m).
Labour
Conse
rvative
Liberal
Dem
ocrat All other par ties
Votes
10,7
40.648
(4
1
%) 8.35"7,29
2
(32 %)
4.8,6,
'37 (18%)
2.45"4.45"3
(9 %)
MPs
4 '3 (63 %)
166
(25"
%)
" (8%)
28 (4%)
Votes per MP
26,006
5"°,345"
92,618
87.
6,9
British
gener
al election results 200 I
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This system was in place b
ef
ore the deve
lop
me nt of m
od
ern
polit-
ical parties (see chapter 6) . These days, of course, nearly everybody
votes for a candidate because he or she bel
on
gs to a particular party.
But the tradition rema ins that an MP is first
and
fo
remos
t a represen t-
ative
of
a particular locality. The result
of
this tradi tion is that the
electoral system is
remar
kably si
mp
le. It w
or
ks like this. The country
is divided into a
numbe
r of areas of ro ughly equal population (about
9°,000),
known
as
cons
tituencies. Anybo dy who wants to be an MP
must declare himself or herse
lf
as a can
dida
te in one
of
these constitu -
encies. On polling day (the day
of
the election) , v
ote
rs go to polling
stations
and
are each given a sing le piece
of
paper (the ballot paper)
with the names of the candidates for that
con
stituency (only) on it.
Each voter then
put
s a c
ro
ss next to the n
ame
of
one candidate. After
the polls have closed , the ballot papers are counted. The ca
ndida
te
with the largest
number
of crosses next to his or her name is the
winner and be
com
es the MP for the constituency.
And that's the
end
of
it. There is no preferent ial voting (
if
a voter
chooses
mo
re than one candidate, that ballot paper is 'spoiled' and
is not counted) ; there is
no
counting
of
the
proportion
of
votes for
each party (all votes cast for losing candidates are sim ply ign
or
ed) ;
there is no extra allocation of seats in Parli
ament
according to party
strengths. At the 2 0 0 I election, there were
659
constitue ncies and
659
MPs were elected. It was called a
gener
al election ,
and
of
course contro l of the
gov
e
rnme
nt depended on it, but in formal
terms it was just 659 separate elections going
on
at the same tim e.
Here are the results from
two
cons
tituencies in
200
I .
Taunt
on
Votes Rochdale
Votes
Conservative
Adrian Flook
23,033
Elaina Co
hen
5
,274
Liberal Democrat Jackie Ballard
22 ,79
8
Paul R
owen
[3,75[
Labour And rew Govier
8, 254 Loran Fitzsimons
19,4°
6
If we add the votes rece ived for each
part
y in these
two
constituencies
together. we find that the Liberal
Democr
ats go t
mor
e votes t
han
Conservative or Lab
ou
r. And yet, these
two
parties each
wo
n a seat
while the Liberal D
emo
crats did not. This is because the y were not
first in eit
her
constituency. It is coming first that ma tters. In fact, the
syst
em
is
kno
wn
as the 'first-pa st-the -
pos
t' system (an allusi
on
to
horse-racing) .
Formal arrangements
In practice, it is the gov
ern
men
t
which
decides when to hold an
electi
on
.The law says that an election has to take place at least
every five years. However, the interval between elections is usually
a bit sho
rte
r
than
this. A party in
pow
er does
no
t
nor
mally wait
unt
il the last possible
mo
ment.
For example, the Labo ur gov
ernme
nt
called the
20 0 1 elec
tion
after
only
f
our
years. W hen a
part
y
Formal arrangements 99
iii-
The
evo lution
of
the elec
to
ral
system
18
32
The G
reat
R
efo
rm
Bill
is passed.
Very small boroughs, where electors
can easily be persuaded
who
[0
VOle
for, arc abolished.
Seats are given to large new towns
such as B
irmingh
am and Manchester.
which
have until
now
been unrepresen-
ted in Parliament.
The franchise (the right to
VOle)
is
made uniform
throug
hout the
count
ry,
although differences between rural and
urban
areas rem ain. II depends on the
value of property owned. About
5"
%
of
the adult population
now
has the right
to vote in elections.
186
7
The franchise is extended
[0
include
most
of
the male workers in towns.
18
7
2
The secret ballot is introduced. (Until
now, voting has been by a
show
of
hands.)
18 8
4
The franchise is extended to include
male rural labourers.
19
18
Wo
men
over [he age
of
thirty are given
the right to vote.
19
28
Women are given the franchise on the
same basis as men. All adults over
tv·vemy-one
now
have {he right to vote.
19
69
The minimum voting agc is lowered to
eighteen, and candidates are
now
allo
wed
to enter a
'po
litical desc
ription'
of t
hems
elves next to their names on
the ballot paper. Until now, the only
inf
ormation about a candidate that has
been all
ow
ed on the ballot paper was
his or her address.
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100
10 Elections
Cr
azy
c
andid
at es
You
don't
have to belong to an
imp
ort
ant party
[Q
be a candidate.
You
don'
t even have
[Q
live in the
constituency. All )'ou need is
£';00.
Look at this list of cand id-
ates from the 1992 election for the
cons
utucncv
of
Hun tingdon .
Miss Deborah Birkhead G
reen
Lord Buc
kcthead
G
remloids
Charles Cockc ll Forwardto Mars Pany
Andrew D
uff
Libe
ral
Dem
ocra
t
Michael Flanagan
Conse
rvcrive
Thctchente
John Major
Conse
rvcnve
Hugh Scckl
cman
la
bour
David She
phe
ard Natural
Low
Pan
y
Lord David Sutch Of
ficial
Monster
Raring
Loo
nyPerty
Paul Wiggin Li
ber
al
Seven
of
these ten candidates did
not gel their mo ney back.
BUI
there arc always some pe
op
le who
arc willing 10 he candidates even
when they know they have no
chance of
winnin
g. Sometimes
they are peop le fighting for a
Single cause that they feel very
sirongly ab
out
. Sometimes the y
arc people who just like 10 be
candidates for a joke. In this case
they t
end
to be cand idates in con-
sutucncies wher e they will get a lot
of publicity. Hunti ngdon is
whe
re
the Prime Minister at that tim e,
John Major, was a candidate. so it
was a natu ral choice.
The most famo us of these 'silly'
candidates was 'Lord' David Sutch.
He was a candidate in the
same
con
-
stituency as the Prime Minister in
every elec
tion
from 1966 to 1997.
The inten tion
of
the £ 5"00
depo
sit
is 10 disco urage joke can
did
ates
such as 'Lord ' Sutch .
but
they' cer-
tainly add
colou
r and
amu
sement
to
the occasio n.
has a very small majority in the House of C
om
mons, or no majority
at all, the interval can be mu ch
sho
rter.
After the date of an election has been fixed . people who want to
be candidates in a constituency have to deposit
£
1)00
with the
Returning Officer (the person respon sible for the conduct of the
election in each constituency). They get this
mo
ney back if they get
1)
% of the votes
or
more. The local associations of the major part ies
will have already
cho
sen the ir cand idates (sec chapter 6) and will
pay the deposits f
or
th
em
. However, it is not necessary to bel
ong
to
a part y to be a candidate.
It is a curious feature of the system that ,
legally speaking, parties do not exist. That is to say, there is no writte n
law
whic
h tries
to
define them or regulate them . The law allows
candidates. if they wish.
to
include a short
'p
olitical descript ion '
of
the mselves on the ballot paper. In practice, of course,
mo
st
of
these
descriptions simply state 'Conservative', 'Labour'
or
'Liberal
Demo
-
crat'. But they can actually say anyt
hing
that a candidate wants them
to say
(
I>
Cra
zy
candida
tes).
To be eligible to vote. a person
mu
st be at least eighteen years old
and be on the electoral register. This is compiled every year for each
constituency separately. People w
ho
have moved house and have not
had
time to get their names on the electoral register
of
their new
constituency can arrange to vote by post. Nobody , however, is
obliged to vote.
The campaign
British elections are comparatively quiet affairs. There is no tradition
o
fl
arge rallies
or
parad es as there is in the USA. However. because
of
the inte nse coverage by the media. it
wo
uld be very difficult to be
in Britain at the time of a campaign and not realize that an election
was about to take place.
The campaign reflects the c
ontra
st b
etw
een the f
orm
al arra
nge
-
ments
and
the political reality. F
or
mally. a
diff
erent campaign takes
place in each constituency. Local newspapers give coverage to the
candidates; the candidates
them
selves hold meetings; partysupp
or
ters
stick up posters in their
windo
ws; local party
wo
rkers spend their
tim
e canvassing (
I>
Can
vass
ing). The amount
of
m
on
ey that candidates
are allowed
to
spend on their campaigns is strictly limited. They have
to submit detailed acco
un
ts of their expenses for inspecti
on
. Any
att
emp
t to influ ence voters improperly is
ou
tlawed.
But the reality is that all these activities and regulati
on
s do not
usually make
mu
ch d
iff
erence. Nearly everybody votes for a candid-
ate
on
the basis
of
the party
which
he
or
she represents, not because
of
his
or
her
indi
vidual
qua
lities
or
political opinions. Few pe
opl
e
att
end
candidates' meetings;
mo
st people do not read local n
ew
spa-
per
s. In any case, the size
of
const
ituen
cies means that candidates
cannot meet
mo
st voters,
ho
wev
er energetically they go fr
om
do
or
to door.
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It is at a national level that the real
campaign
takes place.
The
parties spend
million
s
of
pou
nds
advertising
on
hoardings and in
newspapers. By
agreement,
they do
no
t
bu
y
time
on
television as
they do in the USA. Instead, they are
each
given a nu m
her
of
strictly
timed 'party election broadcasts'. Each
party
also holds a daily
televised news conference. All
of
this put s the
empha
sis
on
the
national party pers
ona
lities
rather
than
on
local c
and
idates
.Only
in the
'marginal
s' - constituencies
where
only a small shift in voting
hehaviour from last time wo
uld
c
hange
the result - might t
he
qualities
of
an
ind
ividual candidate, possibly,affect the
outcome
.
Polling
day
General elect
ion
s al
wa
ys take place on a Thursday. They are
no
t
pub
lic
holidays. People have to w
ork
in the n
ormal
wa y, so polling stations
are open from seven in the
mo
rning
till ten at
night
to give every
bod
y
the
opp
ortun
ity
to
vote.
The
only
peo
ple
who
get a holiday are
schoolchildren
whos
e schools are being used as polling stations.
Each voter has to vote at a part icular polling station. After
being
ticked
off
on
the electoral register, the
voter
is given a ballot paper.
Elections
on
the British
mainland
are always very fairly
conducte
d.
Northern Ireland ,
ho
wever, is a ra
ther
different story.
Ther
e, the
political ten
sion
s of so lllany years have
had
a negative effect
on
democratic
pr
oc
edur
es. Matters have
improve
d since the 19605.
but
the traditional, albeit jok
ing,
slogan in Ulster
on
polling day is 'vote
early and vote often' - that is, try to vote as m
any
times as
you
can
by
imp
ers
onating
other
peopl
e.
After the polls close, the ma rked ballot
papers
are taken to a central
place in the c
on
st
ituency
and
counted
.
The
R
etur
ning
Of
ficer t
hen
makes a p
ub
lic
announcem
ent
of
the
vot
es cast for each candidate
and declares the
winn
er to be the MP for the constituency. This
declaration is one
of
the few occas
ions
d
uring
the election process
when
sho uting a
nd
cheering
may
be
hear
d.
An
el
ection
r
es
ult
being
declared
Polling day J 0 I
Ii>
Canvassing
This is the activity that occupies most
of
the time
of
local party workers
during an election campaign. Can-
vassers go from
door
to door, calling
on as many houses as possible and
asking people
how
they intend to
vote . They rarely make any attempt
to
change people's minds, but if a
voter isidentified as
'undecided',
the
party candidate
might
later attempt
to pay a visit.
The main
purpose
of
canvassing
seems to be so that, on election day,
trans
port
can be offered, if needed,
to
those
who
claim to be supportcrs.
(This is
theonly
form
of
material
help that parties are allowed to offer
voters.) It also allov
vs party workers
to
estimate
how
well they are
doing
on election day. They stand outside
polling stations
and
record w
hether
their
supp
orters have voted. If
it
looks as If these peopleare not going
to
bother
to
vote, party workers
might
call on them to
remind
them
to
do so. Canvassing is an awful lot
of
work for very little benefit. It is a
kind
of
election ritual.
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10 2 10 Elections
II>
The great television
election
show!
British people are generally not very
enthusiastic abou t poli tics. But that
doe
s not SlOp them enjoying a
goo
d.
political fight. Notice the images of
spon and
of
generals planning a mil-
itary campaign in this extract from
the
Rad
ioTimesfrom just
bef
ore the
1992 general election.
What a night it's going to be! As in
all the best
horsereces there is no
clear favourite. Not since 1974
have the
two
main parties been so
closely matched. We may even
keep you up all night
withou
t
being able to tell you wh o's
wa
ll.
On BBCI's 'Election
92',
I'll
have a
whole
array
of
electronic
wiz
ardry - including our Battle-
grou nd
-lO
help explain and
Illustrate what is shaping the
new
Parliament.
Over 30 million people will
have voted by
10 p.m. on the
Thursday, but the decisive verdict
will be pronounced by the five
mill ion p
eo
ple
who
vote in the
marginal seats - and these are the
ones we feature in our
Battle-
ground.
Labour's aim is to colou r the
seats on the Bauleground red. The
Conservatives' task is to keep them
blue .
So sit back in your
armcha ir and
enjoy the excitement.
Radio
T
imes
. April 1992
Election night
The period after voting has bec
om
e a television extravaganza. Both
BBCand lTV start their programmes as
soo
n as voting finishes. With
millions watching, they continue right t
hro
ugh
the night. Certain
features of these 'election specials', such as the
'sw
i
ngome
rer' have
entered popular folklore (
e-
Th
eS
lV
i
ngo
meter).
The first excitement
of
the night is the race to declare. It is a matter
oflocal pride for some constituencies to be the first
to
announce their
result. Doing so will guarantee that the cameras will be there
to
w itness the event. If the count has go ne smoothly, this usually occurs
at just after 11.00 p.m. By midnight, after only a handfu l
of
results
have been declared . experts (with the help
of
compute
rs) will be
making predictions a
bou
t the
comp
osition
of
the newly elected
House of C
omm
ons. Psephology (the study
of
voting habits) has
bec
om
e very sophisticated in Britain so that, although the experts
never get it exactly right. they can get
pre
tty close.
By
two
in the morning at least half
of
the constituencies will have
declared their results and. unless the election is a very close one (as.
for example, in 1974 and 1992) , the experts on the television will
now
be able to predict with confidence which party will have a
majority in the House of C
ommons
. and ther
ef
ore which party leader
is going to be the Prime Minister.
Some con stituencies, however, are not able to declare their results
until
we
ll into Fridayafternoon. This is either because they are very
rural (mostly in Scotland or Northern Ireland). and so it takes a long
time to bring all the ballot papers together. or because the race has
been so close that one or more 'recount s' have been necessary. The
phenomeno
n
of
recounts is a clear dem onstration
of
the ironies of
the British system. In
mo
st constituencies it would not make any
difference to the result if several
thou
sand ballot papers were lost.
But in a few. the result
depend
s
on
a handful of votes. In these cases,
candidates are entitled to demand as many recounts as they
wa
nt until
the result is bey
ond
doubt. The record
numb
er
of
recounts is seven
(and the record margin of victory is just
one
voter).
Recent results and the future
Since the middle
of
the twentieth century. the contest
to
form the
government has effectively been a straight fight between the
Lab
our
and Conservative parties. As a general rule. the north
of
England and most
of
the i
nner
areas
of
English cities return Labour
MPs to Westminster. while the south
of
England and most areas
outside the inner cities have a Conservative
Mil.
Which
of
these two
parties forms the government depends on which
one
does better in
the suburbs and large towns of England.
Scotland used to be g
ood
territory for the Conservatives. This
changed. however. during the
I980
s and the vast majori ty
of
MPs
from there now represent Labour. Wales has always returned mostly
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Swingomet
ers
from
' 970
and
1992
Labour
MPs. Since the I 970 s, the respective nationalist parties in
both countries (see chapter 6) have regularly
won
a few seats in
Parliament. .
Traditionally, the Liberal party was also relatively strong in Scot-
land and Wales (and was so
met
imes called the party
of
the 'Celtic
fri
nge').
Its modern successor, the Liberal Democrat party (see
chapter
6),
is not so geographically restricted and has
mana
ged to
win some seats all over Britain, wi th a concentration in the sou th-
west
of
England.
Northern Ireland always has ab
out
the same
propo
rtion
of
Protestant Unionist MPs and Catholic Nationalist MPs (since the
[970S, about
two
-thirds the f
orm
er, the third the latter). The only
element of uncertainty is how many seats the more extremist (as
opposed to the
mor
e
mod
erate) parties will
win
on either side
of
this invariant political divide (see chapter 12).
Recent results and the future
[03
The
swingometer
This is adevice used by television
presenters on election night. It
indicates the percentage change
of
support from one party
to
another
partysince the previous election -
the 'swing'. Individual constituen-
cies can be placed at certain points
along the s
wingometer
to show
how much swing is necessary
to
change the partyaffiliation of their
MPs. The sw
ingomctcr
was first
made popular by Professor Raben
McKenzie on the BBC's coverage
of
the 1964 election . Over the years, it
has bec
ome
more colourful and
com plicated. Most people enjoy it
but say they areconfused by it!
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104
10 E
lections
Size of overall majority in the House of Com mons
(with name of leader of winning party)
Thatcher
(48)
Thatcher
(144)
Macmillan
(100)
Thatch
er
(89)
• Maj
or(21)
W ilson (5) I
Att
lee (6) I
• Churchill
(17)
Eden (60)
_ He
ath(30)
(Feb)Wi
lson '" I
(
Oct)W
ilson (3) I
Wi
lson
(96)
Blair (167)
1945
1950
195 1
1955
1959
1964
1966
1970
1974
1974
1979
1983
1987
1992
1997
2001
In the thirteen elections f
rom
1945
to
1987
,
the
Con servatives
were generally
more
successful t
han
Labo
ur
. (
I>
Party
performance
in
g
enera
l
elec
t
ions
since
1945).Alt
ho
ugh
Labo
ur
achieved a
majo
rity on
five occasions, on
only
two
of these was
the
ma
jorit
y
comf
ortable.
On
the
ot
her
three occas
ions
it was so small that it was in
con
stant
danger
of
disappearing as a result
of
by-election defeats (I>By-
ejectio
ns). In the same
per
iod, the Conservatives
won
a majority
seven times, nearly always comfortabl
y.
The n, in the 1992 election,
the
Con servatives won f
or
the
fourth time in a row - the first
time
this
had
been achieved for
mor
e than 160 years.
Moreo
ver, t
hey
achieved it in the
middle
of
an
econo
mic
recess
ion
.This
made
many
people
wonder
wheth
er
Labour
could
ever win again. It looked as if the swingometer's
pen
du
lum
had stuck
on
the
right
. La
bour
's share
of
the total vote
had
genera
lly decreased in
the
prev
ious
four decades
while
sup
-
port
for the t
hird
party had
grown
since the early 1970s. Many
sociologists believed this
trend
to be inevitable because Britain
had develop ed a
midd
le-class
major
ity (as
opp
osed to its fo
rm
er
working
-class majority). Many political observers were
worr
ied
about
this situat ion. It is considered
to
be basic
to
the British
system of democracy that
powe
r
should
change
hand
s occas
iona
lly.
T
her
e was much talk abo
ut
a possible reorganization of
Whenever a sitting MP can no longer
fulfil his or her duties, there has to
be a special new election in the con-
stituency w
hich
he or she
represents. (There is no system
of
ready substitures.) These are called
by-elections
and
can take place at
any time .They do not affect who
runs the govern
ment,
btu they are
watched closely by the
med
ia and
the parties as indicators
of
the
current
level
of
popularity (or
unpopularity)
of
the govern ment.
A by-election provides the
parties with an o
pport
unity to find a
seat in Parliament for
one
of
their
importa
nt people. If a sitting MP
dies, the
opport
unity presents itself;
if not, an MP
of
the same party mu st
be persuaded
to
resign.
The way an MP resig ns offers a
fascinati ng exa
mp
le
of
the impor -
tance attached
to
tradition. It is
considered
wro
ng for an MP simply
to resign; MPs represent their
con
-
stituents
and
have no right to
deprive them
of
this representation.
So the MP
who
wishes to resign
applies for the post
ofS
teward
of
the Chiltern Hu ndreds'.This is a job
with no dut ies and no salary.Tech -
nically,howeve r, it is 'an office of
profit unde r the Crown' {i.e. a job
given by the
mon
arch with rewards
attached to it) .According to ancient
practice, a person cannot be both an
MP and hold a post
of
this nature at
the same time because Parliament
must be
inde
pende
nt
of
the
monarch . (This is
why
high ranking
civil servants and army officers are
not allowed to be MPs.) As a result ,
the
holder
of
this ancient post is
autom
atically disqua lified from the
House
of
Commons
and the by-
election can go ahead!
*Lab
our
was the largest p
art
y but had fewer than half the seats.
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. m
od
ern
polit-
ical parties (see chapter 6) . These days, of course, nearly everybody
votes for a candidate because he or she bel
on
gs to a particular party.
But. 'party election broadcasts'. Each
party
also holds a daily
televised news conference. All
of
this put s the
empha
sis
on
the
national party pers
ona
lities
rather
than
on
local