I suppose most of you would prefer a President Tony Blair?
Bit of a non sequitur there, John.

I had occasion yesterday to look up this events surrounding the coup d'etat in Greece a few decades back. As Wiki puts it: "In 1964, the Center Union of George Papandreou was elected, and governed until July 1965, when King Constantine II dismissed him, causing a constitutional crisis."

Do I support ANY system which puts the power to dismiss the government in the hands of any non-elected person apart from the government itself? No. Even though the UK Royals are incredibly unlikely to exercise this power, constitionally they still have it, hence all the hoo-hah at election time with the PM asking for permission to dissolve the existing govenrment or being asked to form a new one. I agree it is flim-flam rather than substance, but it still sits oddly in the modern world.