British Government

Does any one here know what would happen if the primeminister and the cabinet where killed?
who would take over?

[edit on 7-11-2004 by devilwasp]

I'd imagine that a new Cabinet would be formed from members of the Privy Council, until such time as a General Election could be held.

As the Queen appoints her choice of Prime Minister, irrespective of election results, she would choose a new Prime Minister also from the ranks of the Privy Council.

I might be wrong, anyone else got any ideas?

BTW, this nearly happened in the 1980s after the PIRA nearly wiped out the UK Governmnet in the Brighton bombing.


zero lift

Originally posted by devilwasp
Does any one here know what would happen if the primeminister and the cabinet where killed?
who would take over?

the shadow goverment would take over as thats what they are there for

bliar gets killed brown would be prime inister

thats what i heard

thanks for this BTW!
another question what would happen if the london got nuked? who would take over as head of state?

Yeah it would be shadow government, as for London getting nuked; if all major MP's were killed I guess the Queen would appoint the next major local MPs upon the recommendation of her advisors...(?)

hell knows
i think they would be more about worried about launching a nuke at the person who
attacked before going into who is head of state now

Originally posted by bodrul
hell knows
i think they would be more about worried about launching a nuke at the person who
attacked before going into who is head of state now

well who would i mean after the military has "dealt" with the enemy who is in charge? i mean while in war dont we have a war council thing or something like in WW2?

What happens if all MP's are killed and the Royal Family is killed, who takes over then??? The military possibly????

Originally posted by UK Wizard
What happens if all MP's are killed and the Royal Family is killed, who takes over then??? The military possibly????

hmm wait probably MOD martial law.

hmmm what I am wondering right now is the following:

does the EU have some kind of contingency plan in case one member country suffers a really big attack (goverment members all killed, capital city destroyed etc, etc)?
I mean something like EU completely taking over state business till the country is able to form new goverment.

Originally posted by paperclip
hmmm what I am wondering right now is the following:

does the EU have some kind of contingency plan in case one member country suffers a really big attack (goverment members all killed, capital city destroyed etc, etc)?
I mean something like EU completely taking over state business till the country is able to form new goverment.

the EU wouldnt even try and come here, can u imagine trying to get past our football fans never mind the army,navy and airforce.

Taken from here:
www.euractiv.com...:29-117489-16&type=LinksDossier


Solidarity Member States in case of terrorist attacks

EU leaders adopted a declaration of solidarity on 25 March 2004, pledging that a terrorist attack against one Member State is considered an attack against all. The nation under attack is entitled to all manner of military and other assistance. This declaration mirrors 'Article 42' of the draft European constitution which allows the EU to use all its powers "including the military resources made available by the member states to... prevent the terrorist threat... protect... from any terrorist attack... [and to] assist a member state".

This is interesting, specially the last part about assisting a member state. It could mean that EU is allowed to temporary assume control over a country, till a new goverment is formed.

Originally posted by UK Wizard
What happens if all MP's are killed and the Royal Family is killed, who takes over then??? The military possibly????

Ever head of the term...

"we are screwed"

thats what would happen . If that DID happen (when hell freeze's over) then civil war will come around with unelected parties trying to take power.

How interesting I did know that the queen still have power over the government.

So she can appoint a new prime minister in case something happen to the existing one?

Originally posted by marg6043
How interesting I did know that the queen still have power over the government.

So she can appoint a new prime minister in case something happen to the existing one?

yeah, she has many powers.

If the Prime Minister and his Cabinet were nuked in a time of tension, then the Prime Minister's Deputy, (not necessarily the Deputy Prime Minister) would release control of the UK's nuclear weapons to the Chief of the Defence Staff. If the attack was a "bolt from the blue" and the Prime Minister's Deputy was also killed, then the Trident "envelope" system comes into play.

According to Professor Hennessey, in his book The Secret State, each new Prime Minister has to write orders for each Trident submarine commander in the event that the UK had been hit by a "bolt from the blue" nuclear attack. No-one except for the Prime Minister knows the contents of the letters, but it is thought that they contain one of four choices.

1. Put yourself under the command of the United States, if it is still there.

2. Make you way to Australia, if it is still there.

3. Get on with it and take out Moscow (or the capital of whichever country
has initiated the attack)

4. Use your own judgement.

Ah, I hear you ask, how does the Trident commander know when to open the envelopes and carry out orders from a now dead Prime Minister?

One of the very last tests-carried out over several days- is that the BBC Radio 4 Today programme has been silenced.

Read Prof Hennessy's book, The Secret State, for more fascinating information on the UK'S past plans for the end of the world. It's a hoot


zero lift

THe Queen is the Head of State. Everything that a government does is in her name, it is her government and she can dissolve parliament at any time. every law must be given her consent, and she can veto, though often chooses no to. She selects the prime minister yet it is understood she selects the peoples choice ie the winner of the election...

Good info Zerolift...

MAke sure you all put a uk politics forum pic in your sig to promote UK discussion on the board! You dont have to be from the UK!

EDIT SPELLING

[edit on 7-11-2004 by bigdanprice]

Originally posted by bodrul
the shadow goverment would take over as thats what they are there for

- No. This is not correct at all. You'd be hard-pressed to be further from the facts of the matter, sorry.

'The shadow government' is a term for the 'front bench shadow ministers' of the opposition, not the ministers of the 'front bench' of the governing party.

In the event of an event killing the PM or even the entire ministerial cabinet the ruling party would elect a new leader as Prime Minister and a new Cabinet of ministers. The Queen would just formally appoint the new party leader as PM. There is no way she'd involve herself in that level of politics.

The possibility would be there for the new gov to go to the country and seek election on this basis but given such an emergency situation this would probably not happen untill things had settled right down again.

bliar gets killed brown would be prime inister

thats what i heard

- Brown is likely to take over from Blair at some point.

But it isn't just a formality.

Brown will and would have to be elected leader of the Labour party by the Labour party membership.

(Which, true, is likely right now but who knows in a few years time?)

i was meaning right after the gov was killed and after a relitive peace had been established would we have time to elect some one?

Originally posted by devilwasp
i was meaning right after the gov was killed and after a relitive peace had been established would we have time to elect some one?

- Probably but not necessarily.

To the best of my knowledge it would work this way.....

The electoral time-table would remain (although if the even happened near the end of the gov term the Queen would have to sanction the emergency period extending the (whichever was the governing parties') gov term.

The governing party would be within their rights not to hold a new election if they didn't wish to (given the likely sympathy vote this may well not alter any likely outcome anyway). But the governing term would be unaffected without special Royal perogative being exercised.

I suppose if a massive bomb went off and wiped out most of the Houses of Commons and Lords the Queen could command an interim gov be formed from that huge raft of priviledge we so rarely hear about with the various Lieutenants and Companions etc dotted about each county in the UK.