Our new Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, has proposed that the new Parliament cannot be dissolved until shortly before a General Election to be held on 7 May 2015 unless 55% of MPs vote for an earlier dissolution. 

This means that it would need only 293 out of 630 MPs to block such a resolution even if it were supported by 357 MPs.

There are currently 306 Conservative MPs.  Mr. Cameron is thus saying that Parliament cannot be dissolved unless he and his supporters agree; even though they do not constitute a majority.

This proposal is a constitutional outrage.  It reeks of arrogance and inexperience in Messrs Cameron and Clegg.

It is also a damn silly idea.  Too-clever-by-half schemes like this have a nasty habit of creating anomolies and controversies.  Although sometimes they just come to look rather weird.

When Charles de Gaulle came to power in France, in 1958, he insisted on having a new constitution - the Fifth Republic.  There would be an executive President - himself - and he would have a Premier leading a government in the National Assembly.  There would also be a Senate as a fairly weak second chamber. 

Under the Fourth Republic, the Assembly had habitually toppled governments by passing votes of 'no confidence'.  To discourage this practice, the new constitution stated that only 'no' votes would be counted in a vote of confidence; abstentions would be treated as 'yes' votes.  In addition, 'no confidence' motions would require several sponsors and there would be limits on the number of such motions any individual member could sponsor in a given period.   

Cunning stuff, eh?

And what happened?  The Gaullists promptly won thumping majorities in the National Assembly and the fiddly new rules proved completely irrelevant.