There is no democracy in the world where the transfer of power is more brutally abrupt than in Britain. In America, a new president does not take office for nearly three months. In Australia, a new government is usually sworn in during the week after polling day.
But when there is a change of government in the UK, except on those rare occasions when a close result means a short period of political limbo, the transition is immediate. The removal vans arrive at the back entrance to 10 Downing Street early the next morning. The outgoing prime minister emerges and makes some dignified farewell remarks, before being driven away for the last time.
Brexit is likely to remain a major political issue for Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer. Credit: Getty Images Shortly afterwards, the new prime minister arrives in triumph. After some words appropriate to the significance of the occasion, he then walks through the famous black door.
It’s all very informal, in a typically understated British kind of way. No inauguration. No brass bands.
No parades. (The Brits leave the pomp and circumstance for the monarchy.) Just a private audience with the King, a short speech, a brief pose for the cameras, and the nation’s new leader disappears behind the door.
That’s it. Even in Australia, with a televised swearing-in ceremony followed by champagne on the lawns of Yarralumla, we make a bigger fuss. So it will be on the morning of Friday July 5 when Sir Keir Starmer, having stepped inside No.
10 for th.
