This claim concerns how parliamentary democracy's electoral mechanism works: that citizens voting in elections can change the political class, removing incumbents and bringing in new people with different ideas. Multiple authoritative sources strongly confirm this core causal link. The UK Parliament's own website explains that in a general election, "the political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons usually forms the new government," and that this is "an opportunity for people in every part of the UK to choose their MP." The Annenberg Classroom glossary entry describes parliamentary systems as "directly and immediately responsive to popular influence through the electoral process" where a government that "has lost favor with the people can be voted out of office." International IDEA's publications confirm that governments' "democratic legitimacy is dependent on the support of Parliament" and that governments "will ultimately cease to hold office if they lose parliamentary confidence," which is itself linked to electoral outcomes. Academic literature on British electoral accountability explicitly frames this mechanism as voters' ability to "throw the rascals out." A 2024 study from the University of Essex notes that "under 'first past the post' (FPTP), voters can hold governments to account by 'throwing the rascals out'" and cites the 2024 UK general election as "a clear-cut example, with voters removing the Conservatives after 14 years in government." Empirical examples (1997, 2010, and 2024 UK general elections all produced changes of government) further substantiate the claim. The claim's phrasing "sack everybody" is hyperbolic — citizens vote for individual MPs in constituencies, not for the PM directly; safe seats make individual incumbents hard to dislodge; and the civil service is not subject to electoral removal. Additionally, the FPTP system limits effective choice to two major parties. However, the underlying causal mechanism — that parliamentary elections give citizens the power to remove a governing party/coalition and replace it with a new one — is a well-established, defining feature of parliamentary democracy, confirmed by official sources, constitutional scholars, and empirical examples. Sources: - UK Parliament, "General elections" — https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/ - Annenberg Classroom, "Parliamentary System" — https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/glossary_term/parliamentary-system/ - International IDEA, "Government Formation and Removal Mechanisms" — https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/2017-10/government-formation-and-removal-mechanisms-primer.pdf - University of Essex, "Party fragmentation and problems of accountability in the British general election of 2024" — https://repository.essex.ac.uk/40710/1/gsaf024.pdf - CEPR/VoxEU, "The surprising benefits of voting for change" — https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/surprising-benefits-voting-change