Re: Can a Prime Minister be Muslim in the UK
Reply #1 - December 18, 2011, 12:32 PM
This is not correct. The 'urban legend' you are talking about is based off the fact that as Prime Minister they appoint CofE bishops, and an old defunct law from the 1600s that says they have to be members of the CoE.
The only actual requirement is:
Be an elected Member of Parliament......That's pretty much it.
In fact, due to the British Nationality Act of 1981, the PM doesnt even actually have to be a British National, they could be a Pakistani or Kenyan.
The UK has an unwritten constitution and that leaves a lot of these types of details up to tradition....ya see the thing is that the UK isnt legally a democracy or republic at all (That is not to say that in practice the UK isnt very democratic, so for all practical purposes it is, Its just not technically a constitutional republic)
The Prime Minister is merely the leader of the political party which gets the most votes at a general election and is then appointed by the Queen, because of it. Really, the queen could technically appoint whoever she wanted. Hell, she could appoint Shah Rukh Khan's sister if she wanted to. (but she doesnt do stuff like this these days because people would get really mad about it, and she likes her figurehead status better than getting her head chopped off by an angry mob).
The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the
superstructure is faith and the dome is a vain hope. Superstition
is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery.
-Robert G. Ingersoll (1898)
"Do time ninjas have this ability?" "Yeah. Only they stay silent and aren't douchebags." -Ibl