On another thread, Soda asked why the UK had suddenly become a target for terrorists. One answer is that about 6 weeks ago, the Prime Minister called a General Election and the attacks may have been attempts to interfere with the democratic process.

After the watching the american presidential unfold, it seems remarkable that a British General Election can be put together in just six weeks. And a very odd result it is.

I've struggled to understand the american system of government and I'm sure most americans would be equally baffled by the UK system, but I'll try to explain.


  • The country is divided into 650 constituencies.
  • Each constituency is represented by one Member of Parliment (MP)
  • A registered voter gets to vote for one candidate in the constituency where the voter lives.
  • The candidate who has the most votes is elected as MP (a system known as "first passed the post").
  • Most MPs belong to a political party.
  • The two biggest political parties are the Conservative Party (also known as "Tories") and the Labour Party.
  • There are also other significant parties including the Liberal-Democrats, Green Party, Scottish Nationalist Party (only in Scotland), Plaid Cymru (only in Wales), Democratic Unionist Party (only N. Ireland), Sinn Fein (N. Ireland).
  • The leader of the party which has the most MPs will usually become the Prime Minister.
  • The party leaders are chosen by their party, not the electorate and the rules vary from one party to another.
  • To be sure of winning a vote in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister likes to have more MPs that answer to him/her than all the other MPs added together. So with 650 MPs, this means having at least 326 MPs who will answer to the Prime Minister. This is called a majority.
  • Because it is not a simple two-party system, a party can have the largest number of MPs but still be outvoted if all the other MPs vote against them.



In 2015, the Conservative Party were elected with a majority of 17 or 18 ie they had 17 or 18 more MPs than all the others put together. David Cameronwas Prime Minister. After the Brexit vote, David Cameron resigned and the Conservative Party chose Thereas May as new leader and Prime Minister.


Mrs May decided that a majority of 17 wasn't enough for what she wanted to do as she couldn't count on all of her MPs doing what she wanted. So she called a General Election in the belief that she could increase her majority. She was far ahead in the polls and it seemed possible she might achieve a landslide victory giving her maybe an additional 100 MPs.


But it went wrong. The Conservatives still have the largest number of MPs but not more than all the others put together - they are short by around 8. This is known as a "Hung Parliment". The Conservatives can still attempt to form a "minority" government but it means they will need the cooperation from at least one other party to get anything passed. The DUP seems the most likely.


In attempting to strengthen her hand, Mrs May has considerably weakened it. It seems likely it will costs her her job.