Maybe if your democracy weren't so stupid that no politician in the right mind wanted any part of it you would be better off.

That sounds like an accusation but you're an American so..?

Never said my country is a whole lot better. We don't get a chance to laugh at someone other than ourselves very often.

Convince MPs to have a vote of no confidence in the government at large. That's probably the easiest way to get someone actually elected.

You'd probably want to wait for Labour to stabilize a bit though.

You don't vote for the Prime Minister, you vote for your MP. That is how the Westminster System works. The system may be flawed but there is nothing new here.

But it's always going to be the party leader, so a vote for an MP from the party is effectively choosing their leader to be PM.

I believe the point is more along the lines of if the Head of Government is stepping down there should be a general election so that the change in the way the government is run is something solidified by popular vote. Maniac is, after all, part of the Green Party, which has been pretty supportive of trying to get another general election.

As a matter of fact, however, there IS something new about the general election bit, at least relatively. Theresa May has vocally suggested she wouldn't call a general election, though many ask her to. In truth, she CAN'T call a general election. The Prime Minister hasn't had that power in about 5 years, thanks to the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, which goes back to my suggestion in my first post, which the easier of precisely two ways to call an early general election, the other being getting a vote where 2/3 of all MPs agree to have an early election. Either way, it's a decent bit of work.

@ Maniac: "We have had an elected Head of State since forever.."

I hate to break it to you, mate, but when did you elect Queen Elizabeth II ??

David cameron had said before last election that he would be stepping down before the next. Just happened a bit earlier than i think he presumed.

When high district magnitude becomes a sine qua non of democracy, then we've constricted the definition more than we really need to. I'm not saying single-member districts are perfect by any means, but the departure from proportionality that they allow for does not turn the system into anything like undemocratic.

@Jamie - typo, meant to say UNelected.

@TrPrado - we Greens don't have a leader at the moment and one could argue that with Labour in disarray the Tories would increase their majority in any election, but that's not the point. Elections shouldn't be called when it favours a political party, they should be automatic upon change of Leader. If PM steps down, then a GE should be called within six months.

@OP: David Cameron was elected by the Conservative party as their leader, not the public. Parlimentary systems always select the prime minister by parlimentary vote not popular public vote.

The party can remove the prime minister by a vote of no confidence at any time. The rest is your imagination

and yet labour party MPs singularly failed to remove their leader by a vote of no confidence.

Labour is a mess by now. There is an unbridgeable divide between the Labour MPs who think Corbyn is hopeless, and the union support base that think he is their only hope.

Europe is in danger. Ministers cannot make good ideas. Cam will resign. And Angel spports Asia. France is disordered. Everything be worsen. World War 3 is coming. For example Turkey trying be peaceful and band together allyes.

You have just listened to the typical pro Erdogan Turkish view from Yavuzovic. I hope you enjoyed xD

"and yet labour party MPs singularly failed to remove their leader by a vote of no confidence." Could it be because the majority is still confident with Corbyn? :D

No, it's because he refuses to step down despite getting no confidence.

Essentially, there are two factions in the Labour party. There are the party members, which tend to be union workers, and there are the MPs which are politicians. The party members decide who is the leader of Labour. However, the MPs are the ones who provide the votes in Parliament to form government and pass laws.

Now the problem is the MPs can't stand Corbyn but the party members love him. So we have this unfortunate situation where the MPs are led by someone they hate, so they want to kick him out.

Woah! Unite may be Labour's biggest donator and Len supports Jeremy. But there is a strong non-unionised membership that support him; getting on for half a million members.

No, i didn't mean this Nabuchadnezzar. Turkey trying to create an alliance. But yes, i watched Erdogan a few times.

Corbyn is a disgrace to the Labour movement.

@Wusti: Why do you say that? He's a man of principle, and unlike many of his fellow Labour MP's, a true socialist. He has a huge mandate from Labour members and supporters. It's the Blairites who are disgraceful, dragging the party through the mud and preventing Corbyn from getting on with the job of leader by attempting to sabotage him at every turn. They should respect the wishes of their members.

Jamie, is it your opinion that the Labour MPs who are against Corbyn should leave Labour and set up their own gig?
Because frankly, that is probably the only way, other than Corbyn resigning, to resolve this impasse.

Corbyn should ask any members of the parlimentary party who don't like to leave the party... He can find candidates for the next election and turn the party back towards what the base (who support him) want.

Looks like the Conservatives have a pro-EU, pro-Brexit leader, so no split there, and no re-alignment of the Lab-Con-UKIP lines. Despite the Anti-Corbynites being closer in ideology to Theresa May than the anti-EU Cons who'd be better off in UKIP (also i've been offline and away from news, why did Farage resign as leader of UKIP?)

Best line i've heard is "Theresa May discovered to be Thatcher's final Horcrux."

@ Gobbledydook:

If they do not want to recognise the democratic wishes of Labour members, who elected Jeremy Corbyn with a strong majority, then yes, they should resign from the Labour Party, and resign their seats at Westminster. The members of their Party have already spoken, less than a year ago. The membership chose Corbyn through a democratic process. If an MP has no respect for that, then he or she should resign.

Having resigned, if they wish to form a new party and campaign for re-election under that new banner, that's their decision.

(Of course, the likes of Tristram Hunt and Liz Kendall have no need to form a new party. They can simply apply to join the party whose values they support - the Conservative Party.)