Constitutional change and a new Prime Minister

6th July 2026 Why fundamental reform is more likely than before, but still unlikely * The United Kingdom is about to have a new Prime Minister. As this blog has pointed out many times, changing Prime Minister mid-term is the norm in British politics. Since 1974 every Prime Minister has either entered office or left office between general elections, sometimes both. And there is nothing wrong or unusual with this, for we have a parliamentary and not a presidential system. But the one thing a new, mid-term Prime Minister cannot point to is a fresh mandate, with a manifesto endorsed by a general election result. They are pretty much stuck with the same mandate. Sometimes a new Prime Minister will break with the mandate they inherited. In 1990 John Major dumped the community charge (poll tax) notwithstanding it having been detailed in the 1987 Conservative manifesto. No sensible person doubted that was the right thing for him to do. Generally, however, any proposed big change will be put…