3. The Prime minister and cabinet

Question 1

What are the roles of the Prime Minister

Answer 1

• head of the executive, chair of the cabinet and in charge of the civil service
• Roles:
  + leading the government
  + party leader
  + heading up the civil service

Question 2

What are the main powers and resources of the Prime Minister?

Answer 2

• prerogative powers
• shaping and deciding national policy
• de facto commander on chief of the armed forces
• patronage
• leader of the largest party in the Commons

Question 3

What is the cabinet?

Answer 3

team of around 23 senior government ministers and other key officials who are directly appointed by the PM
- Reshuffles:
+reshuffle in order to bring in new talent tier team, to sack under-performing ministers
- collective cabinet responsibility
+ principle whereby all members of the cabinet support its decisions in public, even if they disagree

Question 4

What are cabinet committees?

Answer 4

• groups of ministers that take collective decisions
• tend to comprise ministers from several related departments to enable joined up government e.g. social reform committee

Question 5

What examples of cabinet committees are there?

Answer 5

• National Security Council - the main forum for discussion and consideration of government objectives for national security
• European Union Exit and Trade - Oversees the UKs exit negotiations with the EU
• Social Reform Committee - oversees and agrees social policy reforms

Question 6

What is the relationship between prime minister and cabinet?

Answer 6

• In theory, the relationship should be harmonious as the cabinet is selected purely by the PM and requires no approval and the PM and cabinet are often from the same party
• HOWEVER
  + PM needs to include main strands of party opinions to keep them relatively united e.g. Brexiteers and Remainers
  + most cabinets have big beasts e.g. Mays cabinet had Bojo

Question 7

What is individual ministerial responsibility?

Answer 7

• Notion that each minister is personally responsible for the actions and outcomes in their departments
• involves answering questions in the commons and in the media
• Mistakes and policy failures in a departments could lead to a minister resigning - less significant now as they blame civil servants
• Ministers whose personal conduct falls below that expected of someone in the public life or breach of Ministerial code e.g. Liam fox 2011 for his friendship with Adam Whittery

Question 8

What is collective cabinet responsibility?

Answer 8

• Convention that all ministers are bound by government policies and must defend and promote them in public
• minister who cannot in good conscience agree with government should resign
• some ministers breach collective cabinet responsibility by speaking to journalists e.g. 2018 Bojo was criticised for revealing in advance that he would argue at cabinet for £5B extra to be spent on NHS

Question 9

Why do ministers resign or lose office?

Answer 9

• removed via cabinet reshuffle
• seen as under-performing
• ill health e.g. 2018 Brokenshire resigned due to cancer
• personal scandal e.g. Maria Miller 2014 for financial misconduct pr Michael Fallon 2017 for sexual misconduct

Question 10

What are the relations between government and parliament?

Answer 10

• theory:
  + government should be checked by and answerable to parliament
  + ministers should be personally accountable to parliament
• reality:
  + Governments often avoid effective scrutiny due to party loyalties
  + ministers rarely take personal responsibility for failings in their departments.