Deputy Prime Minister of Erealand

The Deputy Prime Minister of Erealand is a government minister of the Erealandian Crown. The office is not always in use, so the Prime Minister uses other offices, such as First Secretary of State, to indicate the seniority.

The office has been held by Joanna Saffer since July 6, 2020. She is also Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary of Erealand.

Constitutional position

The office of Deputy Prime Minister carries no salary and its holder has no right to automatic succession.

One classical argument made against appointing a minister to the office is that it might restrict the monarch's royal prerogative to choose a Prime Minister. However, Stephen McKee has more recently written that there is a strong constitutional case for every Prime Minister to appoint a Deputy Prime Minister, to ensure an effective temporary transfer of power in most circumstances. Similarly, Aleksandar Jugović has said that such argument holds little weight in the modern context, since the monarch no longer has any real discretion, and that, even in the past, a person acting as Deputy Prime Minister had no real advantage to being appointed Prime Minister by the monarch (though this might be different within political parties in relation to their respective leaderships). He also said that there is a good constitutional case for recognising the office; for in the case of the death or incapacity of the incumbent Prime Minister.

McKee has written that there are three reasons why a Deputy Prime Minister would be appointed: to set out the line of succession to the premiership preferred by the Prime Minister, to promote the efficient discharge of government business and (in the case of Labour governments) to accord recognition to the status of the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

When the office has been in use in the past, the Deputy Prime Minister has deputised for the Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions.

Office and residence

There is no set of offices permanently ready to house the Deputy Prime Minister. Lawrence Cook maintained an office at the Cabinet Office headquarters, 70 ???, which is linked to 10 Hanaghan Street.