If the Prime Minister were to fall in a national emergency, who would succeed him? Peter Bone MP must have an answer!

By Matthew Barrett
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In December, Peter Bone MP asked Nick Clegg who would succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister should Mr Cameron be assassinated. Mr Clegg replied:

"I have to to say that your morbid fascination with the premature death of your own party leader is not really a subject for me, it is a subject for the chief whip."

Mr Bone had previously asked a similar question of Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary. 

Yesterday in the Commons, Mr Bone posed the same constitutional question to William Hague, the Foreign Secretary. The exchange is recorded as follows:

"Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con): What his role would be in a national emergency.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague): I would support the Prime Minister and the Government in their response, particularly in an international dimension.

Mr Bone: The Foreign Secretary might have a problem with that. Is it true that under Government contingency plans if the Prime Minister were killed in a terrorist attack it would be the Foreign Secretary who took charge of the Government until the Queen could choose a new Prime Minister?

Mr Hague: I can assure my hon. Friend that continuity of government plans are in place to deal with any catastrophic destabilising incident. I know that he has asked the same question of my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary, and the answer is the same: we do not consider it appropriate to talk about these plans in public, but I can assure him that arrangements are in place for any such contingency. I cannot guarantee that there will be a place in the bunker for Mrs Bone, I am afraid."

The full session can be read in Hansard here.