Petition: Require Parliamentary approval for appointment or removal of the PM

(Published on 13.9.19 but cancelled when Parliament was dissolved for the 2019 election)

The former PM advised Her Majesty that Boris Johnson commanded the confidence of Parliament when less than a quarter of MPs had voted for him. The confidence of Parliament being taken for granted in this way undermines public respect both for Parliament and for our whole system of government.

We ask that no individual be deemed to have the confidence of Parliament (or to have lost the confidence of Parliament) until it has expressly demonstrated confidence in that individual (or greater confidence in some other individual) through a secret ballot of MPs, using a voting system that a) maximises their ability to clearly demonstrate who would have their support (in order of preference), and b) allows them to trigger a general election by voting for ‘None of the Above’.

As of 13th September, this petition is live. Clicking on the button below will take you to the parliamentary petitions site. Please sign and share it widely.

This is one of a number of constitutional reform petitions I’ve started. Please look particularly at the related petition to Stop the Government controlling Parliament’s business. (Links open in a new tab)

(A similar petition, ‘A new Prime Minister to be chosen by secret ballot of MPs‘, was previously rejected.)