Mikhailova, Anna; Yorke, Harry (16 May 2019). "Tearful Theresa May forced to agree to stand down: PM out by June 30 at the latest". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022 . Retrieved 26 February 2021. During an emotionally-charged meeting with senior members of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, Mrs May was forced to agree to stand down within weeks so the Conservatives can elect a new leader before Parliament's summer recess. Castel, Steven (21 October 2022). "The Race for a New British Prime Minister Begins, Again". The New York Times . Retrieved 6 November 2023. Langer, Ana Inés (2007). "A historical exploration of the personalisation of politics in the print media: The British Prime Ministers (1945–1999)". Parliamentary Affairs. 60 (3): 371–387. doi: 10.1093/pa/gsm028. Besides these headline benefits, there are additional perks with a Prime membership that you may be unaware of. This includes:

Prime Minister's Questions is a constitutional convention, currently held as a single session every Wednesday at noon when the House of Commons is sitting, in which the prime minister answers questions from members of Parliament (MPs). The leader of the opposition usually asks the prime minister six questions, and the leader of the third-largest parliamentary party can ask two questions. It is an occasion when the prime minister appears regularly on live television and radio. According to Rodney Brazier, there are no procedures within government to cope with the sudden death of the prime minister. [31] There is also no such title as acting prime minister of the United Kingdom. [32] Despite refusing "...to discuss a hypothetical situation" with BBC News in 2011, [33] the Cabinet Office said the following in 2006: [34]The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament. All former prime ministers are entitled to claim for salary or office expenses incurred in fulfilling public duties in that role. The allowance may not be used to pay for private or parliamentary duties. It is administered by the Cabinet Office Finance Team. Hanchant, W.L. (1943). England Is Here—Speeches and Writings of the Prime Ministers of England. Bodley Head. What happens if a prime minister loses their seat in a general election?". Institute for Government. 27 November 2019 . Retrieved 22 February 2021. Has a prime minister ever lost their seat? No incumbent prime minister has ever lost his or her seat at a general election. Cameron, David (11 May 2010). "David Cameron becomes PM: Full Downing Street statement". BBC News . Retrieved 11 May 2010. ; Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrives at Downing Street on YouTube; Transfer of Power from James Callaghan to Margaret Thatcher on YouTube; May, Theresa (13 July 2016). "Prime Minister Theresa May promises 'a better Britain' – the full speech". Total Politics . Retrieved 13 July 2016.

Bagehot, Walter (1963) [1867]. The English Constitution. Wm. Collins & Sons. ISBN 978-0-521-46535-9. If you’re not interested in any of its benefits, and you just intend to use the free delivery feature, we’ve crunched the numbers below. In modern times, much of the process involving prime ministerial appointments is informally governed by constitutional conventions and authoritative sources, like The Cabinet Manual, paragraphs 2.7 to 2.20 and 3.1 to 3.2.The principles of government formation (Section 2.8)". The Cabinet Manual (1sted.). Cabinet Office. October 2011. p.14 . Retrieved 24 July 2016. Prime Ministers hold office unless and until they resign. If the prime minister resigns on behalf of the Government, the sovereign will invite the person who appears most likely to be able to command the confidence of the House to serve as prime minister and to form a government. Barnett, Hilaire (2009). Constitutional & Administrative Law (7thed.). Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge-Cavendish. By the 1830s, the Westminster system of government (or cabinet government) had emerged; the prime minister had become primus inter pares or the first among equals in the Cabinet and the head of government in the United Kingdom. [ citation needed] The political position of prime minister was enhanced by the development of modern political parties, the introduction of mass communication and photography. [ citation needed] By the start of the 20th century the modern premiership had emerged; the office had become the pre-eminent position in the constitutional hierarchy in relation to the sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet. [ citation needed] Farnborough, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron (1896). Constitutional History of England since the Accession of George the Third (11thed.). London: Longmans, Green and Co. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ( link) Main article: Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Dominic Raab was the First Secretary of State from 2019 to 2021. He deputised for Boris Johnson when he was ill with COVID-19 in April 2020.

Mason, Chris (15 August 2016). "Is Boris Johnson running the country?". BBC News . Retrieved 19 March 2021. The British system of government is based on an uncodified constitution, meaning that it is not set out in any single document. [12] The British constitution consists of many documents and most importantly for the evolution of the office of the prime minister, it is based on customs known as constitutional conventions that became accepted practice. In 1928, Prime Minister H. H. Asquith described this characteristic of the British constitution in his memoirs: Chrimes, S. B. (1947). English Constitutional History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-404-14653-5. A prime minister ends their tenure by offering their resignation to the British monarch. [37] This can happen after their party has suffered a general election defeat, so that they no longer command the confidence of the House of Commons. It can also happen mid-term, if they are forced to resign for political reasons, [38] or for other reasons such as ill-health. [39] If the prime minister resigns mid-term, and their party has a majority in the Commons, the party selects a new leader according to its rules, and this new leader is invited by the monarch to become the new prime minister. The outgoing prime minister is likely to remain in post until the new leader has been chosen by the party. After resigning, the outgoing prime minister remains a Member of Parliament. An outgoing prime minister can ask the monarch to bestow honours on any number of people of their choosing, known as the Prime Minister's Resignation Honours. No incumbent prime minister has ever lost their own seat at a general election. [40] Only one prime minister has been assassinated: Spencer Perceval, in 1812.

Public Administration Select Committee. "Taming the Prerogative: Strengthening Ministerial Accountability to Parliament. Fourth Report of Session 2003–04" (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. p.4. House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee (19 June 2014). "Role and powers of the Prime Minister" (PDF). p.34 . Retrieved 20 February 2021. One way forward would be to create a Prime Minister's Department—either as a separate entity or as a formal department combined with the Cabinet Office. Lord Hennessy believed that, in practice, there was already a Prime Minister's Department, but it was simply not referred to in those terms: "I am reluctant for a Prime Minister's Department to exist, being a traditionalist, but it does. It is there. It is the department that dare not speak its name." Penny Mordaunt pulls out of Tory leadership race, paving way for Rishi Sunak to become next PM". Sky News . Retrieved 24 October 2022. The relationships between the prime minister and the sovereign, Parliament and Cabinet are defined largely by these unwritten conventions of the constitution. Many of the prime minister's executive and legislative powers are actually royal prerogatives which are still formally vested in the sovereign, who remains the head of state. [14] Despite its growing dominance in the constitutional hierarchy, the premiership was given little formal recognition until the 20th century; the legal fiction was maintained that the sovereign still governed directly. The position was first mentioned in statute only in 1917, in the schedule of the Chequers Estate Act. Increasingly during the 20th century, the office and role of prime minister featured in statute law and official documents; however, the prime minister's powers and relationships with other institutions still largely continue to derive from ancient royal prerogatives and historic and modern constitutional conventions. Prime ministers continue to hold the position of First Lord of the Treasury and, since November 1968, that of Minister for the Civil Service, the latter giving them authority over the civil service. Low, p.155. In 1902, for example, Arthur Balfour said, "The prime minister has no salary as prime minister. He has no statutory duties as prime minister, his name occurs in no Acts of Parliament, and though holding the most important place in the constitutional hierarchy, he has no place which is recognized by the laws of his country. This is a strange paradox"