People are still banging on about the Tory and Labour defectors having to undergo a by-election. What they don't realise is that the electorate votes for a person, not a party. Political parties are a convenience and have no constitutional relevance.
Almost the sole statutory provision that assumes the existence of political parties in constitutional arrangements is the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, which acknowledges the Leader of the Opposition and grants state financial subventions to the opposition parliamentary parties. Therefore, the status and working of political parties rest almost entirely on convention or merely political fact.
The argument runs that MPs stand on a party manifesto, but a manifesto is a fudge at the best of times and not every member of the party stands by all the items in a manifesto - it's a compromise.
Another thing to bear in mind is that manifestos get broken rather regularly. Do we hold a general election every time a manifesto pledge is broken? No, we don't.
The only legal recourse to the electorate when an MP crosses the floor is a general election.
This Malthouse Compromise. Can't say I remember Robert Ludlum writing that one. The Bourne Identity and the Scarlatti Inheritance, certainly, but not the Malthouse Compromise. Going by his other works, I have no doubt that it's a gripping story.
I guess it's some kind of political thriller, full of double dealing and skulduggery..
Now that's an interesting word. I looked it up - Scots in origin, apparently. Here's its usage over time.
Still waiting for the Sun newspaper's forecast of 'snow to blank the country' this week to materialise. The daytime temperature forecast here doesn't go below 10 degrees for a fortnight. There again, the Sun also reckons Brexit will be great for the UK.
Almost the sole statutory provision that assumes the existence of political parties in constitutional arrangements is the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, which acknowledges the Leader of the Opposition and grants state financial subventions to the opposition parliamentary parties. Therefore, the status and working of political parties rest almost entirely on convention or merely political fact.
The argument runs that MPs stand on a party manifesto, but a manifesto is a fudge at the best of times and not every member of the party stands by all the items in a manifesto - it's a compromise.
Another thing to bear in mind is that manifestos get broken rather regularly. Do we hold a general election every time a manifesto pledge is broken? No, we don't.
The only legal recourse to the electorate when an MP crosses the floor is a general election.
This Malthouse Compromise. Can't say I remember Robert Ludlum writing that one. The Bourne Identity and the Scarlatti Inheritance, certainly, but not the Malthouse Compromise. Going by his other works, I have no doubt that it's a gripping story.
I guess it's some kind of political thriller, full of double dealing and skulduggery..
Now that's an interesting word. I looked it up - Scots in origin, apparently. Here's its usage over time.
Still waiting for the Sun newspaper's forecast of 'snow to blank the country' this week to materialise. The daytime temperature forecast here doesn't go below 10 degrees for a fortnight. There again, the Sun also reckons Brexit will be great for the UK.
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