In UK politics, what would happen if a political party won a General Election, but the party leader didn't win his or her seat? Who would be Prime Minister?

Snowman

Constitutionally, the Prime Minister does not need to be a Member of the House of Commons - throughout history several Prime Ministers have led the country from the House of Lords. So if the party leader lost his or her seat, they could be appointed a life peer in order to take up the position of PM. It is likely that this would only be a temporary measure; the PM would almost certainly be found a safe seat to contest in a by-election so that they could lead from the Commons, as happened with Alec Douglas-Home in 1963. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Prime_Minister#Peers_as_Prime_Ministers Apr 22 09, 4:04 PM

Midget40

The PM is the leader of the members of Parliament. If the leader of the majority party was not a member of Parliament then by definition that person could not lay claim to government. However this is extremely unlikely to happen as, as one moves up the party ladder, one is given progressively safer and safer seats from which to run. If it did it would leave the party three options: 1. A new party leader would be elected and would become PM 2. A byelection would be created in a safe seat 3. The PM would receive a peerage and would sit in the House of Lords as Prime Minister http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090406024338AAqZTAa Apr 22 09, 4:05 PM