QUESTIONS:
1. Iain Duncan Smith has just been sacked by Great Britain’s Conservative Party as its leader replaced by Michael Howard. When was the last time Conservative members of Parliament dumped a sitting leader?
2. The Conservatives have been having bad luck at the polls lately. When was the last time they won a national election in Britain?
3. Who was the first leader of the Conservative Party to be elected by fellow members of the House of Commons?
4. By tradition, the prime minister in Great Britain must come from the House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. Who was the last prime minister to have served in Lords?
5. Much has been made of the fact that Conservative leader Howard is Jewish. Who was the last leader of either major party in Britain to have been Jewish
ANSWERS:
1. In 1975, when Conservative leader Edward Heath was dumped by his party’s members of Parliament, who thereupon elected Margaret Thatcher as leader.
2. In 1992, under then-Prime Minister John Major.
3. Heath, elected in 1965. (Prior to that, there was no means for electing a leader. Following consultation with senior party leaders, the retiring prime minister-if he were of the same party, would simply designate a successor and the monarch would name the new leader prime minister.)
4. Lord Home, who, upon being named prime minister in 1963, renounced his title and won a seat in Commons, and then took office as Alec Douglas-Home.
5. Benjamin Disraeli, who became Conservative leader in 1880. (Disraeli was born a Jew, but converted to Christianity before launching his political career because, at the time, Jews were barred from serving in the House of Commons.)
