In Praise Of The Quickie

In Praise Of The Quickie

I'll bet THAT headline boosts traffic. Sorry, folks, it's about politics:

If we were smart, we'd watch the United Kingdom do in 30 days what it took us Americans of ingenuity 300 days to do last year: elect a head of state. Yesterday, April 5, 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair called an election for May 5, 2005.

First let's correct the factual error: the Prime Minister of the UK is NOT a head of state, he or she is a head of government. The Queen is the head of state.

And the thirty day window betweeen setting the election date and going to the polls doesn't mean that there's not perpetual posturing, positioning, and electioneering.

One of the striing differences between our system and parliamentary system is the process of nominating a leader. In the U.S. we nominate the head of party, the presidential candidate, immediately before a general election.

Contrast this with the UK. The leader is normally chosen immediately AFTER an election. Traditionally, the leader of the losing party resigns immediately after the defeat, as John Major did in 1997 and Neil Kinnock in 1992. (If the loss is narrow or credible, the losing leader may stay on as did Kinnock in `87.) The defeated party then goes directly into the equivalent of the primary-convention season, and the public knows for several years who the main candidates will be.

Both the current major party leaders were chosen in mid-term. Blair was elected Labour leader in 1994 after the sudden death of John Smith, who succeeded Kinnock in after the 1992 loss. Tory Leader Michael Howard took charge in 2003 after Iain Duncan Smith (chosen in 2001 to replace the defeated William Hague) lost a confidence vote - in effect, the equivalent of an American primary challenge.

Interestingly, it has been the Conservatives who have been more inclined to challenge leaders. Margaret Thatcher gained the leadership in a 1975 challenge to Edward Heath, and lost the leadership and Prime Ministership in a 1990 challenge. In contrast, the three post-WW2 challenges to Labour leadership have failed.

As for the American perpetual campaign vs. the British "quickie," the speedy elections in parliamentary systems are only enabled by a strong and permanent party structure - a different sort of perpetual campaign.

Politics, UK Election