LONDON — The new tenant of Number 10 Downing Street is now all set to move in. With remarkable ease the new British prime minister, Gordon Brown, replaces the old one, Tony Blair, and life goes on in Britain as before.
Or does it? Rumors swirl around the Westminster scene about the changes that the new man may be contemplating. These will have to remain rumors for the next four weeks — until June 27 to be precise. On that day Blair will visit the queen and tell her that he proposes to resign as her first minister. Within hours, or even minutes, Brown will be summoned to Buckingham Palace.
As the newly elected head of the majority party in the House of Commons, (in fact his election was uncontested) he will then be invited to form a government. That is the formal and ritual part.