THE appointment of either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak as prime minister will look different after it was confirmed that Boris Johnson and his successor will now meet the Queen in Balmoral, not Buckingham Palace.
How does meeting at Balmoral change things?
When the new prime minister arrives in Downing Street, the business of government is meant to start right away – as they are required to receive fresh briefings, urgent phone calls and start forming a team of ministers.
But the fact that the Queen will now receive Johnson and the next prime minister in Scotland marks a major change in the normal choreography of the handover, with consequences for the early days of their administration.
Under normal circumstances, the pomp of the appointment of a new prime minister is mostly confined to London over the course of an afternoon.
For example: When Theresa May resigned in 2019, she said her goodbyes to Downing Street staff before making a brief speech outside Number 10.
Then, she made the short journey to formally resign to the Queen before returning to her constituency home in Maidenhead.
In her wake followed Johnson, who visited the Queen to be appointed prime minister, before he returned to Downing Street to address the nation.
Three years later, and for the first time in decades, the procedure is going to look very different.
How will Johnson and his successor travel to Scotland?
Now both Johnson and his successor will make the 500-mile journey to Scotland.
How the pair would make such a journey is not known right now, as is whether Johnson and his replacement (widely expected to be Liz Truss) would travel together to see the Queen.
One option would be for the pair to fly together or separately, whether by helicopter or plane, which would likely take only a couple of hours.
In contrast, a train journey could take up to 10 hours for Johnson and the incoming prime minister.
Number 10 was not commenting on Wednesday about how the day might play out or how the Prime Minister would travel, saying it was a matter for the Palace.
What else will change? Where will speeches be made?
Questions were also asked by Labour MP Chris Bryant, who took to Twitter to ask how Liz Truss will be able to make Foreign Office questions in parliament on Tuesday.
The change also raises questions about where the incoming prime minister’s first speech will be made, or if a formal address to the nation will be happen with the backdrop of Balmoral as opposed to Downing Street.
If either Truss or Sunak hope to make their first speech outside the traditional Downing Street front door, it will mean a delay of several hours at least between the new prime minister being appointed and the the address being broadcast to the country.
It could also delay the highly-anticipated appointment of a new cabinet.
What about a Cabinet reshuffle?
With various reports in the papers in recent days about what a Truss cabinet could look like, the actual process of a reshuffle could also potentially be pushed into the late evening if the new prime minister wants to meet and greet their new team from London as opposed to over the phone.
As constitutional expert and Institute for Government fellow Dr Catherine Haddon has suggested, the change could see appointments announced in “batches” throughout the rest of the week.
It is also likely to have a knock-on effect on the time and place of briefings and congratulatory phone calls, with the new premier being forced to potentially work on-the-move as they journey back to London.
