What do James Callaghan, John Major, Gordon Brown, Teresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have in common?
The answer is they became Prime Minister without first leading their party to victory in a General Election.
Granted, Major, May and Johnson (Conservatives) actually went on to win an election while holding their party’s top job.
But Callaghan and Brown (Labour) and Truss and Sunak (Conservatives) only ever lost elections when they were at the head of their party.
As I write this, it seems odds on that Sir Keir Starmer, fresh from announcing his resignation as Prime Minister, will be replaced in Number 10 by Andy Burnham.
But is it right that Prime Ministers who successfully persuaded the nation to vote them into power can simply be cast aside by their own MPs?
OK, most voters probably feel let down by the unfulfilled promises made by Starmer.
He has been a rabbit in the headlights, U-turning this way and that.
But the people voted him into power, however incompetent he has proved to be.
It is not unusual for Prime Ministers to become unpopular.
But can it be right for a former MP, who stood down in 2017 to become Mayor of Greater Manchester, to decide he would like to return to the Commons so he can oust our PM?
Just like Superman heading to London, Burnham tells us it’s because he can save the country. Good luck with that.
He tells the people of Manchester it will give them a greater voice in Westminster. What about the rest of us?
Be honest, it’s more to do with personal ambition.
To my mind, probably the worst political decision ever made in this country was to hold a referendum over whether or not we should remain in the European Union.
Sadly, as far as I’m concerned, the majority of people voted us out and we must abide by that.
But what if a Prime Minister acknowledges the folly of ditching our cross-Channel allies and decides to take us back into the EU without consulting us?
It would rightly cause outrage, despite so many of us wishing Brexit had never happened.
We are a democratic country and must abide by the will of the people shown at the ballot box.
