You come in here with a skull full of mush

The Conservative Leadership Debate was in the back of my mind yesterday. Not that I did anything as drastic as watching it you understand, it is just that Helen mentioned that it was to be held at the Riverside Studios when I was picking something up in the morning for her and Mat's to take over to PG who lives around the corner and used to run it.

Anyway as I was turning it over in the compost heap that passes for my brain, it dawned on me in the USA the Republicans (and the Democrats too for that matter) don't appear to have party leaders at all. It is all to easy to conflate the President as a sort of de facto party leader but I am very far from convinced that it is the case. Who is the leader of the Republicans now for example? I have't got a clue.

OK, I get it. Over here, the leader of the party that wins the most seats in a general election is appointed Prime Minister by the Queen, and the Prime Minister is an MP and head of the government. But why should it necessarily be so? Why can't the Prime Minister sit in the Lords? Why can't, say, the Tories nominate one person Prime Minister with another as party leader? Is it the law or just a convention?