3.1.1.3 The Prime Minister and cabinet Flashcards
core executive
The core executive is an informal network of bodies and actors at the apex of government which play key roles in the formulation of policy and the direction of government .
It is where key policies are created and conflicts between different parts of Government are sorted out,
E.g - English votes for English laws should be carried out or how much extra funding to give the NHS.
prime minister
The Prime Minister is the leader of the Government. He or she is the leader of the party that wins the most seats at a general election. After a general election the monarch calls upon the leader of the largest party to form the Government. The Prime Minister chooses the other Members of the Government and has a residence and offices at 10 Downing Street.
primus inter pares
First Among Equals. This ‘traditional’ view of the UK executive emphasises that power is collective and not personal. It is located in the cabinet rather than the prime minister. Moreover, within the cabinet, all ministers are equal.
Each of them has the capacity to influence government policy and shape the direction in which the government is going.
Such a view has clear implications for the prime minister, who is regarded as ‘first’ in name only. In other words, the prime minister has no more power than any other member of the cabinet.
cabinet
The Cabinet is the team of 20 or so most senior ministers in the Government who are chosen by the Prime Minister to lead on specific policy areas such as Health, Transport, Foreign Affairs or Defence.
inner cabinet
An inner cabinet is a group of very senior ministers who are close to the prime minister. Members of such a group can control cabinet by determining policy among themselves
cabinet committee
Cabinet Committees-small sub-committees of the Cabinet.
individual responsibility
ministers are accountable for their department’s policies and their personal conduct. This principle is outlined in the Ministerial Code, stating that ministers must provide accurate information to Parliament and resign if they knowingly mislead it. While ministers decide how to conduct themselves, they can only remain in office if they retain the prime minister’s confidence, as the prime minister is the final judge of their behaviour and any consequences for breaches.
Collective Responsibility
Underpins prime ministerial control. Because ministers must accept official government policy, the prime minister can expect their loyalty. Rebellious ministers put their careers in jeopardy.
accountability.
key concept within a liberal democracy consisting of two related elements. The first element is where elected representatives are answerable to the people. Accountability also consists of the government facing scrutiny by elected representatives within the legislature.
how policy is made
.
The relationship between Prime Minister and cabinet (Prime ministerial government)
Prime minister is dominant, controls the cabinet and the whole policy-making process.As the 20th century progressed, increasing concerns were expressed about the traditional theory of cabinet government. These were invariably fuelled by an awareness of the growing power of the prime minister. In many ways, this process can be traced back to the 19th century and the development of disciplined political parties, enabling the prime minister to use the leverage of party leadership. How could the prime minister any longer be dismissed as ‘first among equals’ if the focus of party loyalty focused on him as opposed to his ‘equals’? This led to the belief that cabinet government had been replaced by prime-ministerial government, an assertion first made by Richard Crossman (1963) in a new introduction to Bagehot’s English Constitution. The core feature of this view is that it is the prime minister, and not the cabinet, who dominates both the executive and Parliament. This happens because the prime minister is both head of the civil service and the leader of the largest party in the Commons.
The relationship between Prime Minister and cabinet ( Cabinet government)
First among equals, the cabinet remains the centre of power and the main source of policy making. Though the prime minister is the senior member, ultimately the cabinet controls all policy power is collective he theory of cabinet government is underpinned by the convention of collective responsibility, in which all ministers are expected to support publicly decisions made by the cabinet, or resign from the government. This helps to ensure cabinet collegiality, in the sense that disagreement or dissent is only ever expressed within the secrecy of the cabinet room and never in public
The relationship between Prime Minister and cabinet (Core Executive)
power as much more fluid and shared between different parts of the government-Cabinet, Senior Civil Servants, PM, Ministers and their departments. In some areas the PM dominates and in others individual ministers have control. An alternative way of understanding where power lies is to go beyond the simplistic ‘cabinet versus prime minister’ debate and to recognise that both the prime minister and cabinet operate within the context of the ‘core executive’. This model suggests that: * Neither the prime minister nor the cabinet is an independent actor. * Each of them exercises influence in and through a network of relationships, formal and informal. This brings a range of other actors and institutions into the picture.
the difference between individual and collective responsibility resignation of Sir Thomas Dugdale – Crichel Down (1954)
In 1954, Sir Thomas Dugdale, minister of agriculture, resigned after an independent inquiry was critical of the government’s role in the Crichel Down affair. It concerned the compulsory purchase by the government of 700 acres of privately-owned farmland in Crichel Down, Dorset, for use as a bombing range shortly before the Second World War. The government promised to return the land to its owners after the war, but when the previous owner then sought to repurchase it, the Ministry of Agriculture took it over and let it out to another tenant. When the inquiry reported, Dudgale accepted responsibility for the mistakes and inefficiency of officials in his department and resigned.
Dugdale’s resignation was thereafter treated as the classic example of a minister resigning because of errors made by civil servants. However, the release of official documents decades later prompted a reassessment. It emerged that Dugdale bore some responsibility as he knew of the civil servants’ actions and had not sought to stop them. Nonetheless, his resignation immediately led to a clearer exposition by the government of individual ministerial responsibility which states that ministers should rectify minor mistakes made by officials and should not resign if they did not know of or approve mistakes made within their departments.
the difference between individual and collective responsibility resignation of Iain Duncan Smith over Welfare Reforms (2016)
Iain Duncan Smith ( known as IDS) who was a former Conservative leader from 2001 to 2003 and had been work and pensions secretary since 2010 until he resigned in March 2016. His publicly stated reason for resignation was that cuts to the welfare budget, in particular to disability benefits, were a ‘compromise too far’ during austerity and the government’s drive to reduce the budget deficit. He argued that instead the cuts should come from reducing benefits for better-off older people. Also noteworthy is the fact it had already been announced a few days earlier that the proposed benefit cuts were not going ahead, so it was not quite such a straightforward resignation over policy differences.
“I am unable to watch passively while certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self-imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest,” Duncan Smith wrote in a resignation letter to Cameron.
examples that demonstrate the power of the Prime Minister and cabinet to dictate events and determine policy making. One example must be from 1945‒1997.
Margaret Thatcher’s decisive handling of the Falklands War showcased the significant power of the Prime Minister in foreign policy and military decisions. When Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, Thatcher’s cabinet quickly decided to deploy a Task Force to reclaim them. Despite international pressure and the logistical challenges, Thatcher’s strong leadership ensured Britain pursued military action. This victory boosted national morale and reinforced her authority both domestically and internationally, leading to her 1983 election victory.
examples that demonstrate the power of the Prime Minister and cabinet to dictate events and determine policy making. must be from 1997 to the present
Boris Johnson’s handling of Brexit illustrated the modern Prime Minister’s power in determining the political agenda. After becoming Prime Minister in 2019, Johnson prorogued Parliament in an attempt to limit opposition to his Brexit plans, a move later ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court. Despite this setback, Johnson called a snap general election in December 2019, securing a large majority that enabled him to pass the Withdrawal Agreement Act and ensure the UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020.
government/parliament relations – accountability
(5)
- PMQs
- Select Committees
- Votes of No confidence
- Debates and reports
- Judicial Review
government/parliament relations - interest.
(5)
- Constituents
- Political Party
- Pressure Groups + Lobbying
- House of Lords
- Petitions + Public Engagement
