The Brits know how to do an election night.
We can't do it the same way, because we have a zillion different federal, state, & local offices up for grabs on the same day, plus ballot initiatives & referenda.
But one night with elections to a single legislative house is so pure, it's fun.
UK politics can be grim, but election night there with constituencies being largely ungerrymandered, losers standing next to winners of podiums, and the "election season is 6 weeks, not 2 years" default is incredibly wholesome
also "if/when you lose, there's no lame duck season, the next guy arrives tomorrow at 10am" is a big UK W vs the US system, we should totes get rid of that
Tbf we also have our "ask electors to pick" and "ask congress to count" cosplay, which tbqh we should really move past, because while it's all fun and games as weird cosplay, we've found out to our detriment what happens when folks refuse to dress up and act it out
tomorrow we get my favorite constitutional oddity which is that there's a ~ 1 hour period in which all UK executive authority formally vests in the King
No. But I sometimes use it as one of my "pwnallthethings conlaw nightmare examples", specifically: "what if the King accepts Sunak's resignation and then just doesn't invite Starmer to form a government"
It's wonderfully perverse, because it happens in the context where there's plainly a duly elected PM, but the incoming PM has no authority to act, and Parliament is not yet assembled, so there's (technically) no power center to correct it
Pulls out an entire new volume of "Black Spider Memos" he secretly scribbled for this moment. It's bound in skin, of some sort, and maybe best not to ask about the ink.
The understood bargain here is that the King does what he's supposed to and in return the people of the UK very graciously do not cut off his head, yeah?
though these days it's probably more "very graciously do not tax his billions of pounds or kick him out of his palaces" instead of cut off his head.
jury's still out on which Charles finds more frightening...
The solution to this is that all of the new parliament technically commits a coup and the UK goes from a ceremonial monarchy to a parliamentary republic in a matter of hours.
Something about the way you phrased this made me think: only thing keeping him from a power grab are the tens of millions of pounds and tax breaks he gets for doing nothing beyond ceremonial duties. He'd be foolish to pull a stunt b/c then he'd actually be forced to work for his money
That's what the House of Lords is for, it's just a matter of waking enough of them up. An exciting new FPS adventure from the makers of Bioshock:Survival.
I couldn't see Charles pulling that. Willie? Ya gotta watch him.
Suppose it wasn't even an on purpose thing though. What happens if Charles has a massive heart attack between the two?
Nobody would pull it, because it would immediately end the monarchy. But it's just a fun to ask folks try to try and reason out the procedural mechanism for why
If the heart attack kills Charles, William instantly becomes king and handles matters. If the heart attack just puts Charles in the ICU, I think WIlliam can quickly be declared regent and take care of things. If Charles and William both have heart attacks, then thing get awkward. ...
...The regent would normally be the next adult in line, but that's outcast Harry. Because Harry isn't a resident of the kingdom, they can skip over him to the next adult, but that's His Royal Embarrassment Andrew, Friend-of-Epstein.
The PM is expected to delay their resignation until it's clear who can command a majority in Parliament and so be invited to replace them. Hence why Gordon Brown didn't resign for several days after losing the 2010 election - he had to wait until Cameron had a coalition agreed.
