Prime Minister Boris Johnson has at last bowed to pressure from his Conservative party and said he will resign. The Prime Minister said it was “eccentric” to change governments at this stage but “I regret not to have been successful in those arguments”.
A new Tory leader will now be elected who will replace Mr Johnson in No 10. “In politics, no one is remotely indispensable,” he acknowledged in a statement delivered from a lectern in Downing Street.
“I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but them’s the breaks,” he said. He will stay onto autumn when a new leader is elected, but could this mean the country faces another General Election soon?
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When is the next general election due?
In the UK, general elections are held at the latest five years apart. The current Parliament first met on December 17, 2019 and will automatically dissolve on December 17, 2024, unless it has been dissolved sooner by the Queen.
Polling Day would be expected to take place 25 days later. That means, unless one is called sooner, the next one is due in January 2025.
Who has the authority to call an early election?
This is now down to the Prime Minister, which is just a recent development. In 2011, a law was passed that removed the PM's power to hold an early election and instead hand control to the House of Commons. However, after winning the 2019 election, the Conservatives introduced a new law which restored the PM's traditional power to call elections at a time of their choosing.
Will the next PM need to hold an early election as they weren't leader of the Tory party that won in 2019?
No, the new PM doesn't have to call an early election, but they could if they wanted to. When John Major took over Margaret Thatcher as PM in 1990, he didn't call an election until 1992. And of course Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair in 2007, and didn't call an election until 2010.
What is the procedure for calling an early election?
The PM would need to make a "request" to the Queen to dissolve Parliament - the official term for closing Parliament in order to hold an election. Once an election is called, polling day would be expected to take place 25 days later.
Could the Queen say no?
In theory yes, and there was much talk about this happening if Boris Johnson tried to hold onto power by attempting to call an early election rather than resign. The circumstances under which the Queen might do this are a bit unclear.
A government document called 'dissolution principles' sets out the requirements under which the PM can ask the Queen for an early election, including: The PM maintains support as the leader of the government; The Queen should not be drawn into party politics.
However these principles have never been tested and it would cause quite a constitutional storm if they were.
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