Electing party leaders: who should decide? - Parliament Matters podcast

News

Electing party leaders: who should decide? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 48

11 Oct 2024

©Jacob Groet/CCHQ (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Conservative leadership race is heating up, but should MPs alone choose their leader? Should MPs who resign their party's whip face by-elections? On 29 November, MPs are expected to debate the controversial 'assisted dying' bill - will it stymie other Private Members’ Bills? Meanwhile, Nigel Farage is pushing for a parliamentary debate and vote on the government's deal regarding the Chagos Islands. Will he get his way?

LISTEN

In this episode, we dive into the high-stakes Conservative leadership contest. As party members face a pivotal decision, we ask whether MPs alone should have the final say in choosing their leader. We also explore Sir Graham Brady’s proposal for Conservative MPs to vote on the final two candidates, giving an indication of their preferred choice to party members. Would this approach bring clarity or add even more confusion to the leadership race?

Next, we turn to the dramatic resignation of Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who resigned the Labour whip just three months into this Parliament. In her scathing resignation letter, Duffield criticised Keir Starmer’s leadership and Labour’s internal policies. Her departure raises significant questions: should MPs who resign the whip be required to step down from Parliament and contest a by-election? Or should they face a recall petition from their constituents? We also reflect on past instances where MPs resigned the whip early in a new Parliament and the impact this has on their ability to represent their voters.

We then focus on the Government’s announcement of the 13 Fridays when the House of Commons will sit to consider Private Members’ Bills. The debate on Kim Leadbeater’s ‘assisted dying’ bill is likely to be scheduled for 29 November. Will this bill dominate parliamentary time and push other Private Members’ Bills to the sidelines? We explore the potential procedural roadblocks that could hinder the bill’s progress and how similar issues have been managed in the past.

Nigel Farage has led calls in the House of Commons for a debate on the future of the Chagos Islands. The government’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius while retaining control of the US base on Diego Garcia has raised both sovereignty and treaty scrutiny concerns. We discuss how this case once again exposes the limitations of Parliament’s oversight of international treaties and what might happen next.

Finally, we answer listener questions on a range of topics, from the role of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) and the upcoming Budget to the tradition of MPs “bobbing” to catch the Speaker’s attention at Prime Minister’s Questions and the complexities of statutory consultation processes.

← Back to Parliament Matters homepage

Listen on our YouTube channel (captioned)

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

What we talked about on this episode

Should MPs or party members choose the leader of the Conservative Party and potential Prime Minister?
Should MPs who switch parties or resign the whip be required to call a by-election to seek fresh electoral approval?
What procedural hurdles might thwart the ‘assisted dying’ Private Members' Bill?
At what stage might the Government intervene to facilitate consideration by MPs of the ‘assisted dying’ Private Members’ Bill?
Will MPs have an opportunity to debate and vote on the Chagos Islands agreement?
Why is parliamentary scrutiny of treaties so weak?
Dame Meg Hillier is proposing a new Commons committee to consider urgent public spending decisions: why and what would it do?
What will happen with the Intelligence and Security Committee?

'Urgent questions' from listeners

Will the Budget be kept under wraps or leaked to the media?
Why do MPs “bob up and down” as if to catch Mr Speaker’s eye during Prime Minister’s Questions?
Are “full-blown” statutory consultations necessary? Is there a better way to consult?
What role will All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) play in this new Parliament? To what extent are APPGs a problem?

Resources

Hansard Society

House of Commons Library

MPs’ changes of party allegiance in the House of Commons since 1979

House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee

Assisted Dying/Assisted Suicide: Second Report of Session 2023-24

Transcript

Please note, this transcript is automatically generated. There are consequently minor errors and the text is not formatted according to our style guide. If you wish to reference or cite the transcript copy below, please first check against the audio version above.

Intro: [00:00:00] You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/pm

Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.

Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark D'Arcy.

Ruth Fox: Coming up. As the Conservative leadership contest reaches fever pitch, should MPs alone choose their party leader?

Mark D'Arcy: It looks like the Commons will debate a bill on assisted dying on the 29th of November, but will that controversial legislation crowd out all the other private members bills this year?

Ruth Fox: And the row over the Chagos Islands exposes Parliament's weakness when it comes to scrutinising treaties with other countries.

Mark D'Arcy: But first Ruth, let's talk about the Tory leadership [00:01:00] contest. I don't really want to get into the kind of micro politics or whether MPs were too clever by half in the way they voted. And all the rest of it. The Conservative MPs have now had a series of ballots to eliminate candidates until there were just two left to present to the party membership.

Use the links below to subscribe to the Hansard Society's Parliament Matters podcast on your preferred app, or search for 'Parliament Matters' on whichever podcasting service you use. If you are unable to find our podcast, please email us here.

Apple

YouTube Podcasts

Spotify

More ways to subscribe

Parliament Matters homepage

Latest / Highlights

News / Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 15-19 September 2025

Peers will vote on the assisted dying bill’s Second Reading, while MPs will question the new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood MP and Lord Chancellor David Lammy MP. The Commons will debate the Employment Rights, English Devolution and Community Empowerment, and Sentencing Bills, as Peers examine the Planning and Infrastructure and Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bills. Committees will hear evidence on arms exports to Israel and the Online Safety Act. MPs will also debate an e-petition on SEND support and consider a Ten Minute Rule Bill on child poverty strategy, including removing the two-child limit for Universal Credit. The youngest minister in nearly two centuries will make his first appearance before a Select Committee. ❓ We value your thoughts. Please click here to let us know what you think of the Parliament Matters Bulletin in our reader survey.

News / Assisted dying bill - special series #16: The Bill makes its debut in the House of Lords - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 106

As Peers embark on a marathon two-day Second Reading debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – the measure that would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales – we are joined by former Clerk of the Parliaments, Sir David Beamish, to decode the drama. With more than two hundred members of the House of Lords lining up to speak, Sir David explains why, despite the intensity of the arguments, no one expects the Bill to be rejected at this stage. Instead, the real fight will come later, after Peers get into the clause-by-clause detail and see what defects can be remedied. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.

Briefings / The assisted dying bill: A guide to the legislative process in the House of Lords

Having passed through the House of Commons, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - the Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales - must now go through its legislative stages in the House of Lords. This guide explains the special procedures for legislation in the House of Lords, and for Private Members’ Bills in particular. It answers some frequently asked questions, including how Peers might block the Bill, and gives an explanation of each stage of the process, from Second to Third Reading.

Briefings / Delegated powers in the assisted dying bill: Issues for the attention of the House of Lords

Like many pieces of primary legislation, the assisted dying bill leaves much of the practical and policy detail to be worked out later by Ministers through regulations. After the Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Commons, we published a briefing which drew attention to two of its delegated powers. But since then the Bill has been heavily amended, prompting new questions: how have its delegated powers evolved, do these changes strengthen or weaken the approach to the delegation of ministerial power, and are further amendments needed and if so, why?

News / Is Parliament at the root of the country's problems? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 105

Does Parliament itself lie at the root of some of Britain’s political and economic difficulties? Lord Goodman argues that it does and so makes the case for urgent parliamentary reform. This week we also examine the implications of a Downing Street reshuffle that has created a “Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister,” raising new questions about accountability in the Commons. The discussion ranges from Angela Rayner’s uncertain position, Nigel Farage’s controversial US appearance, and the Greens’ leadership contest, to the growing use of artificial intelligence in parliamentary work. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.