ABSTRACT
When the Queen appoints a Prime Minister her choice is governed by a number of conventions and facts of political life, which have been so developed that the choice is normally very simple. It might reasonably be argued that the spirit of the party's rules required that he should not accept office as Prime Minister until a new party election had been held. In the event of the party's winning the election the Queen would presumably have to be advised to defer the appointment of a Prime Minister until after the assembly of Parliament and election of a Leader. Sir Alec Douglas-Home's position as Prime Minister was weakened from the beginning by the circumstances of his appointment, and after all the party did lose the ensuing general election. The appointment of Lord Home as Prime Minster, while he was still a peer, was acceptable only because it was known that he would at once renounce his peerage.
