In what way would it be more suboptimal than having Prime Minister Nigel Farage? (Assuming we don’t have a largely ceremonial president like Ireland does.)
What happens to the royal perogative powers for example? We could accidentally ‘good chaps theory of government’ into a very overpowered executive like the Americans have in my view, the increasing presidentialisation of the PM role and centralisation of power in Number 10 is already a long term concern of mine.
Also there’s lots of weird technical factors around the issue , like what happens to the Crown Estate? Does it lapse to the Windsor family or to the president? Presumably we’d want to nationalise it directly by Act of Parliament but that’s a can of worms in itself.
Yeah I don’t like the monarchy but I suspect I’d like a British presidency even less. If it were up to me I’d abolish the hereditary principle but to avoid the genuine constitutional shitshow I’d simply keep the throne empty rather than abolishing it, have Parliament elect a regent from among itself periodically. A regent unlike a president holds no power in their own right, they hold it on behalf of someone else. This would keep egos in check and help prevent an overly powerful executive I think. If anything it’d be Parliament putting a much-needed brake on Downing Street.
Also historically it’d be the final culmination of the 800 year British project to subordinate monarchical authority to constitutional authority. It’s keeping the current constitutional notion of the ‘crown in parliament’ while admitting the reality no living human can actually embody it.
The question of abolishing the monarchy is one I absolutely agree with in principle. However; getting Nigel Farage as president would be suboptimal
In what way would it be more suboptimal than having Prime Minister Nigel Farage? (Assuming we don’t have a largely ceremonial president like Ireland does.)
What happens to the royal perogative powers for example? We could accidentally ‘good chaps theory of government’ into a very overpowered executive like the Americans have in my view, the increasing presidentialisation of the PM role and centralisation of power in Number 10 is already a long term concern of mine.
Also there’s lots of weird technical factors around the issue , like what happens to the Crown Estate? Does it lapse to the Windsor family or to the president? Presumably we’d want to nationalise it directly by Act of Parliament but that’s a can of worms in itself.
Yeah I don’t like the monarchy but I suspect I’d like a British presidency even less. If it were up to me I’d abolish the hereditary principle but to avoid the genuine constitutional shitshow I’d simply keep the throne empty rather than abolishing it, have Parliament elect a regent from among itself periodically. A regent unlike a president holds no power in their own right, they hold it on behalf of someone else. This would keep egos in check and help prevent an overly powerful executive I think. If anything it’d be Parliament putting a much-needed brake on Downing Street.
Also historically it’d be the final culmination of the 800 year British project to subordinate monarchical authority to constitutional authority. It’s keeping the current constitutional notion of the ‘crown in parliament’ while admitting the reality no living human can actually embody it.