BNP leader to meet the Queen...

[Sam Slater]

And I'm sure the public would stand for a monarch ousting a democratically elected leader. If things got really bad then the people would force a PM out before the Queen had to.

[max_tranmere]

Sam and Cockney, whats all this 'democratically elected leader' business? Is there such a thing? Only one of the last three PM's were elected by the people - the two who werent had the chance to go to the country but realised they would lose so they didnt bother. Both discovered no one wanted them as PM but all that mattered/matters to them are their egos so they stayed in office against the wishes of the public.

[Sam Slater]

Ok, I meant party, but it amounts to the same thing really. We don't elect leaders we elect parties. Always have. This is the United Kingdom, not the USA.

A Queen that dismisses a PM is dictating to a democratically elected party on what leader they should have. No one would stand for that in this day and age. I doubt that, short of a party/leader taking us into an easily avoidable nuclear war, the Queen wouldn't even think of trying. And, again, the people would do the job for her anyway.

Remember the poll tax riots? A classic example of public pressure contributing to the downfall of a PM, and a swift backtracking of government policy.

[max_tranmere]

Sam, I remember the Poll Tax riots well. I remember seeing Trafalgar Square the following day - it had been destroyed. Downing Street, which is only about 600 yards from there, was put on full alert when the riot started that Saturday and rows of Police stood there ready to try and keep back the marauding hordes if they were to head down Whitehall with a view to wrecking Downing Street as well. Those huge gates that now exist along the entrance to Downing Street were put up not long after the Poll Tax riot and will be there for ever more.

Back in 1976 something happened which was not a case of the Monarch sacking the PM, but the Establishment coming near to overthrowing the Government. The Establishment was so sick of the socialist Government that there was very nearly a koup in Britain (like the kind you get in Africa). The army, under the juristiction of Lord Mountbatten, cousin of the Queen, was (and I kid you not) going to take over the government, arrest the Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and there would have been troops along Whitehall and in Downing Street aswell.

A few weeks before this was going to happen there was a 'show of security' at Heathrow Airport - where many soldiers and tanks were filmed, and shown on the TV news, taking up positions supposedly so they could deal with a terrotist incident at the Airport if it happened. It was filmed (apparently) to show any potential terrorists that the army meant business. What it was ACTUALLY for was to show the Government that the Establishment meant business - this was Mountbatten and his cronies putting the frighteners on the Government.

Rogue elements within MI5 were involved aswell. Harold Wilson claimed to live at 10 Downing Street, but that was really just where he worked. He actually lived in Lord North Street, just down the road. Whenever he had to have a discussion with someone over a sensitive matter he would have the conversation in the garden of the house - because he was so sure the house was bugged and that the phones were all tapped.

That same year, 1976, about 20 homes all over London of people who worked in Downing Street were burgled and in every case there was always things that a normal burglar would take but in every case nothing was nicked. It has been claimed later that in every instance it was MI5 breaking-in to bug the houses.

So the Monarch never fired a Prime Minister in Britain, but as recently as 33 years ago the Establishment, in carhoots with senior military figures and rogue elements within the Security Services, came very near to ousting the Labour Prime Minister and his Government, and for them all to have been led away in handcuffs. I'm not sure why it never went ahead - but it came very near to doing so. (Lord Mounbatten was killed by the IRA three years later, in an unrelated incident.)

[Deuce Bigolo]

very true

Anytime an extreme party gets in ie greens in germany mid 80s sooner or later if their radical plans are not performing economically they get booted out of office

The BNP will never be anything but a back water party for the disenchanted
They'd need an extroadinary percentage of the vote to gain power as no one else would give them their preferences

[Deuce Bigolo]

Hardly legitimising a party

When the BNP can get 20% of first time voters across the country then their a serious party but otherwise their just an also ran

They may well rise to the heights of One Nation in Australia but as that showed when the bad times pass the fear abates and the party is dead in the water with the exception of the hardcore.

[Sam Slater]

I was a wee nipper in 76, max, and don't know too much about it. I'd have to read up to comment properly.

My instinct tells me it sounds like you're conjecturing a little, though.

[max_tranmere]

Sam, I was only at primary school then myself, but all this happened. I've read about it and seen documentaires about it too. On the programmes I've watched they have interviewed people, with their voices distorted and they faces blotched out, who say all of this. You can read more about this on Wikipedia if you enter "Harold Wilson" - there are sections on the page about him entitled 'MI5 plots' and 'other conspiracies'.