The principle that an administration can only function if it has the backing of a majority in the House of Commons is acknowledged to be a fundamental part – perhaps the fundamental part – of not only the British, but of any parliamentary constitution. It expresses the idea that Parliament itself cannot exercise executive power, but gives its authority to a smaller group who can, trusting them to use it wisely. The meaning of a vote of no confidence – indicating the withdrawal of that trust – is obvious enough in principle. But as arguments mount about what might happen in September, what it means in practice has come to seem considerably more complicated and uncertain; and the idea of a vote of no confidence has come under a degree of scrutiny that it is scarcely able to bear. For although it has now acquired a specific meaning as incorporated…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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