Rishi Sunak: is it legitimate for the Conservatives to continue in government without an election? A constitutional scholar explains
This article by Stephen Clear, Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law, is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.
It is only right to explain why I鈥檓 standing here as your new prime minister
These were some of the first words spoken by Rishi Sunak as he made a speech outside Downing Street shortly after coming to office.
Sunak is the fifth prime minister since 2016 and the third since the last election. So his assessment that his presence needs an explanation is correct. Recent polling shows听听he should call an early election.
The last election was held in 2019 and although Boris Johnson secured a large parliamentary majority back then, he resigned in disgrace in the summer of 2022. Even before his departure, the Conservative majority had been eroded by multiple by-election losses and the Tories were plummeting in the polls. Their popularity hit rock bottom during听.
Yet the party now presumes to be in the position to appoint another prime minister without seeking the views of the voting public.
In truth, they are听听to govern for a further two years without calling a public vote. Sunak indicated in his speech that he sees the听听as his mandate and explicitly stated that the electoral mandate secured that year under Johnson 鈥渋s not the sole property of one individual鈥.
Nevertheless, the Conservative Party presided over economic chaos during Liz Truss鈥檚 short tenure. They may have the legal right to govern without an election 鈥 but does that mean they should?
What is a 鈥榣egitimate鈥 government?
The UK does not have a听听so it鈥檚 difficult to say definitively when a government does or doesn鈥檛 have legitimacy.
Rather than being codified, the听听rests on the Westminster model of government, whereby the party that听听in the House of Commons forms the government. The prime minister is not directly elected by the people. The job simply goes to whoever is the leader of the party of government. That鈥檚 why neither Truss nor Sunak had to hold a public vote to secure the top job and why Sunak referred to the 2019 mandate in his speech.
In legal terms, the constitution rests on political principles, which the law protects. These include democratic accountability and scrutiny, freedom of the press and freedom of information. There are also seven specific moral principles of government (known as the听) which include things like honesty, integrity and selflessness.
听
, however, have long proposed that a government is only legitimate when it has the popular and implicit听. In other words a government can only exist when citizens freely allow it to, and have given their popular consent (via a vote) in favour of it.
American political scientist听听said legitimacy 鈥渋nvolves the capacity of a political system to 鈥 maintain the belief that existing political institutions are the most appropriate and proper ones for the society.鈥
Legitimacy also has a听. It is linked to the belief that a government鈥檚 actions should be appropriate and legally constituted.
So, even though Sunak can claim to have a legal right to be prime minister, can he claim to have political (democratic) and moral legitimacy to continue?
In respect of听, time will tell. Sunak鈥檚 ability to unite his party and end the political and economic uncertainty the UK has experienced over the past month will be the deciding factor on whether he is the appropriate person to govern.
In relation to the听听of integrity, openness and honesty, it is also important to note that Sunak does not represent an entirely fresh start from the听. He served under Johnson and was fined for听听alongside him.
Nor should it be forgotten that Sunak lost to Truss in听听just a few months ago. Even though he stood unopposed this time, he in fact only had just over half the total number of Tory MPs publicly听. He will therefore need to stabilise his party in these conditions to achieve moral legitimacy to continue to serve as prime minister. These are, after all, the mechanisms via which a leader comes to power within the Westminster system.
If Sunak cannot give evidence of his legitimacy to govern early on in his tenure, it will add to calls for a general election before 2025.
But will he call an election?
The constitution does allow Sunak to call an early election since, under Johnson, parliament听听in respect of general elections. He can use听听to advise the monarch to dissolve parliament in order to call an election.
But听听would make it unlikely for the new PM to want to do this. Nor are his MPs likely to vote to hold one.
That said, given how much has changed since 2019 and the unprecedented political events of the last couple of months, calling an early election could be the most effective way to restore a sense of political and moral legitimacy at the heart of the system. It鈥檚 a huge gamble for the Conservatives but it would at least produce a new (or renewed) mandate for Sunak.
