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Will Liz Truss get away with her plan to avoid 8 by-elections or will King Charles stop it?

(24 Posts)
Normandygirl Sat 08-Oct-22 19:34:45

As Johnson's honours list gives peerages to 8 loyal Tory mp's, this means they have to step down as mp's as you cannot sit in both houses. This will trigger 8 by-elections which is the last thing Liz wants or needs, so she has a cunning plan to just change the rules to allow them to sit in both houses. Charles will have to give permission for this outrageous political move to avoid the by-elections. Do you think Charles will say yes or no to her?

Barmeyoldbat Sat 08-Oct-22 22:01:21

Don’t know the ins and out of it but hope he says no

MaizieD Sat 08-Oct-22 22:14:10

Can she 'just change the rules?'

Surely parliament would have to consent to that?

Or would it have to be decided by the Supreme Court, as Johnson's unlawful prorogation was?

paddyann54 Sat 08-Oct-22 23:03:36

Apparently Charlie had his nose firmly stuck into our parliamentary business.
,The bill passed by Holyrood to cap rents and stop evictions would of course affect his Scottish properties ,I do hope he didn't want it not to apply to his tenants ,though I think on past behavior thats exactly what he wanted
Grany any info from you on this ,I'm sure Republic will know

Grantanow Sat 15-Oct-22 23:16:53

Charles will do what Truss tells him to do.

FarNorth Sat 15-Oct-22 23:27:24

Has it happened yet? If not yet decided, I think he'll say Yes .

Mamie Sun 16-Oct-22 08:08:23

Grantanow

Charles will do what Truss tells him to do.

I don't think anybody will do what Truss tells them to do, especially not Larry the Cat. ?

GrannyGravy13 Sun 16-Oct-22 08:12:09

They can surely stay in the commons, just not enter the House of Lords until after the next election?

Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Daveys are leaders of the two opposition parties and are in the House of Commons.

dragonfly46 Sun 16-Oct-22 08:21:38

I am just shocked at how many of Johnson’s family members are on the honours list.

MaizieD Sun 16-Oct-22 08:23:47

GrannyGravy13

They can surely stay in the commons, just not enter the House of Lords until after the next election?

Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Daveys are leaders of the two opposition parties and are in the House of Commons.

Knights aren't peers, GG13. Peers sit in the House of Lords, knights are Commoners...

Has anything more been heard of this plan?

Casdon Sun 16-Oct-22 08:28:12

MaizieD

GrannyGravy13

They can surely stay in the commons, just not enter the House of Lords until after the next election?

Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Daveys are leaders of the two opposition parties and are in the House of Commons.

Knights aren't peers, GG13. Peers sit in the House of Lords, knights are Commoners...

Has anything more been heard of this plan?

No, MaizieD. It’s all speculation still. I’d expected the resignation honours to be announced on Friday with the other Boris Honours list, but they weren’t. Rumour has it that Priti Patel is on the list, no idea what for.

GrannyGravy13 Sun 16-Oct-22 08:28:20

MaizieD

GrannyGravy13

They can surely stay in the commons, just not enter the House of Lords until after the next election?

Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Ed Daveys are leaders of the two opposition parties and are in the House of Commons.

Knights aren't peers, GG13. Peers sit in the House of Lords, knights are Commoners...

Has anything more been heard of this plan?

Thanks MaizieD all these titles tend to confuse me.

MaizieD Sun 16-Oct-22 08:39:47

@ Casdon. I saw something that said that Johnson's list won't be out for months yet!

I wonder if it's taking a while to get through the committee that scrutinises the nominees?

Esspee Sun 16-Oct-22 08:50:25

I thought that Johnson’s list was being deliberately held up until someone with backbone found a way to throw it out.

Casdon Sun 16-Oct-22 09:00:05

MaizieD

@ Casdon. I saw something that said that Johnson's list won't be out for months yet!

I wonder if it's taking a while to get through the committee that scrutinises the nominees?

I hope so, honours for favours is all wrong. He certainly shouldn’t be allowed to honour his own father.

Normandygirl Sun 16-Oct-22 09:15:56

As I understand it, from the moment a peerage is accepted, you cannot enter the House of Commons. There is nothing in place to facilitate a delay in acceptance as all nominees are put to the King for a letters patent seal. If an mp wants to continue in the HoC even for a short time, they have to decline the title. Maybe Liz will ask the King to change the protocol regarding the letters patent seal? By agreeing to it, the King may be accused of " meddling" in politics though.
The only other way round it, would be for Truss to make them all ministers, as Lords are allowed to act as ministers for the government. As usual, with this government, it's a very grey area, as no Prime Minister has tried to avoid a by election of a departing MP before.

Normandygirl Sun 16-Oct-22 09:22:45

Just to add that I doubt any of the nominees would be that supportive of a delaying tactic, as they are all huge Johnson supporters and may not want their titles kept from them by his usurper?

Grantanow Tue 18-Oct-22 00:03:52

Mamie - Charles is obliged as a constitutional monarch to act on the advice of the Prime Minister even if she is completely barmy. Of course, Larry the Cat couldn't do much worse than her but he is only a civil servant. I expect he is looking forward to retirement!

Mamie Tue 18-Oct-22 08:22:11

Well yes Grantanow, but do you think Liz Truss is currently in a position to rock up at the palace and ask for deeply controversial constitutional change? I think not.

Oldnproud Tue 18-Oct-22 08:49:59

If I were Charles, I would do everything in my power to make myself 'unavailable' for a meeting with Truss over this matter for a week or so, in the hope that she might be gone by then and that the matter might be resolved without my involvement.

Lovetopaint037 Tue 18-Oct-22 10:03:39

Oh! Dear, Oh! Dear. Poor old Charles, he was told not to go to that Environmental conference and give a speech he had been working on. Now more trouble. For a woman who has lost any scrap of credibility she might of had it is laughable that she can tell our King what to do. I hope he disappears into Scotland for essential meetings whenever she turns up.

Witzend Tue 18-Oct-22 10:11:05

I’d like to add ??, except that it’s not really a laughing matter…

Grantanow Tue 18-Oct-22 10:40:42

Mamie - it's not a 'constitutional change'. Aside from the fact we don't have a written (and thus defined) constitution in the UK advising the King to make people Lords or not is within the conventions. Truss has of course other problems of more immediate significance as you imply than the risk of by-elections (which history shows are poor predictors of the next GE outcome). The Tories have a choice: get rid of her now and hope to dig themselves out of the hole before a GE or they keep her on to take the heat and ditch her next year. Either way looks bleak.

Mamie Tue 18-Oct-22 10:53:07

I know there is no written constitution Grantanow (I did actually do Government and Politics at University), but the issue is that she would be asking that people could sit in the Lords and the Commons at the same time. I cannot begin to see how she could get away with that given her current position.