XPost: uk.politics, uk.politics.misc, uk.politics.parliament   
   XPost: soc.culture.british   
   From: le@top.put.com   
      
   In the USA,the annual ritual of the State of the Union Address brings   
   together both houses of Congress to hear the President,attended by the   
   Cabinet and Supreme Court.   
      
   The recent television show Designated Survivor posits that this occasion   
   was bombed,killing all in the chamber,placing the "designated survivor"   
   (a lone member of the Cabinet brought to a distant location so that   
   someone in the line of succession to the presidency would survive such   
   an event) in the presidency and tasked with rebuilding the government   
   from scratch.   
      
   In the UK,the annual ritual of the State Opening of Parliament brings   
   together both houses of Parliament (which include the Cabinet) to hear the   
   Queen,attended by the Supreme Court.   
      
   Since Guy Fawkes there has been no serious attempt to bomb that occasion   
   but what would happen if a bombing comparable to the DS bombing did occur?   
      
   The Lord Chamberlain (a member of the Lords,since 1924 non-political)   
   entertains the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (a Government whip in   
   the Commons) at Buckingham Palace for the duration of the State Opening   
   (ceremonially as a hostage for the Queen's safe return)...so they could   
   count as the analogous "designated survivors" of their Houses.   
      
   In practice,out of the 800 or so members of the Lords,hundreds would be   
   absent from a State Opening...and some others of the 650 in the Commons   
   would not be in the Lords Chamber either,I expect.   
      
   A quorum of the Lords for a division is 30 and this would easily be   
   retained.   
      
   A quorum of the Commons for a division is 40 and this would likely NOT   
   be retained.   
      
   The Chief of the Defence Staff and heads of the three service branches   
   would be among the lost because they take part in the procession.   
      
   The surviving MPs who failed to attend would likely be opponents of the   
   Monarchy or Lords who refused to make the trip for that reason (and thus   
   not representative of the nation as a whole).   
      
   The surviving Lords would likely be those who could rarely be bothered   
   to attend the House for a variety of reasons.   
      
   The surviving members of the Privy Council would be those out of office   
   for a variety of reasons.   
      
   In terms of replacing those lost...   
      
   The Prince of Wales customarily attends so would be lost along with the   
   Queen...the Duke of Cambridge would become King and Prince George would   
   become Duke of Cornwall.   
      
   On the Lords side,the one seat still inherited in a straightforward   
   manner is that of the Duke of Norfolk,as Earl Marshal (a capacity in   
   which he would be taking part in the ceremony and among the lost).   
      
   There is provision for a peer exercising the office of Lord Great   
   Chamberlain (which also involves participation in the ceremony)   
   to be a member of the Lords but this office rotates among multiple   
   families from reign to reign...if the bombing is deemed to have ended   
   one reign one of the multitude of heirs of the late Marquess of   
   Lincolnshire (the fragmentation is a consequence of the long standing   
   co-heirship doctrine by which any number of daughters add up to the   
   equal of one son) would be due,but almost none of them are peers,   
   while if two reigns are deemed to have passed it would revert to the   
   next Marquess of Cholmondeley (there the heir is a young boy).   
      
   All absent Bishops of the Church of England would likely slot in as   
   new Lords Spiritual to replace those lost.   
      
   Provision exists under the House of Lords Act 1999 for the whole House   
   to elect 15 hereditary peers as members following which the reformed   
   party groupings of hereditary peers could elect the remainder of their   
   number...if the convention of choosing members of the same party as   
   those deceased among the 15 is followed the lone LibDem would get to   
   pick three of his colleagues.   
      
   The Commons would need new elections...but a new General Election or   
   some provision for 600+ by-elections?   
      
   The Civil Contingencies Act of 2004 empowers the Lords Commissioners   
   of the Treasury (the Prime Minister being the First Lord) and Secretaries   
   of State to step in and suspend laws and enact new regulations with   
   the consent of the Privy Council when great emergencies (defined therein)   
   necessitate...but the Lords Commissioners and Secretaries of State would   
   likely all be among the dead in this scenario.   
      
   The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household (noted above as a survivor)   
   effectively outranks the junior Lords of the Treasury in the whips'   
   office (the Lords Commissioners may ostensibly jointly hold the office   
   of Lord High Treasurer,but when the PM (First Lord) and Chancellor of   
   the Exchequer(Second Lord) meet to discuss Treasury matters the junior   
   Lords are not invited let alone empowered to outvote them) but I don't   
   think this would give him/her a presumptive claim to be the new Prime   
   Minister.   
      
   The Government Departments would have their civil servants intact but   
   no political ministers surviving,how would oversight be restored?   
      
   All thoughts on eventualities are welcome!   
      
   -=-=-   
   The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,   
   at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)