3.3- prime minister and the cabinet

Question 1

what are the factors that influence the selection of ministers

Answer 1

• competetence and specialist knowledge
• establishing their authority by removing previos cabinet ministers and appointing allies
• loyalty and political reliability: must be sure ministerial responsibility will be upheald
• ideological balance: keeping favour with different party factions
• representation and diversity

Question 2

who is an example of a specialist minister

Answer 2

ben wallace
- served as secretary of state for defence under johnson, truss and now sunak
- experience as a former soldjer

Question 3

give examples of a pm appointing inexperienced ministers

Answer 3

lizz truss appointing Kwazi Kwarteng who had only served in cabinet for 2 years

Question 4

give an example of an ideologically balnced cabinet. And explain how a focus on ideological balance has changed.

Answer 4

• theresa may appointed both remainers and leavers in her cabinet
• recently there has been les of a focus on ideological balance

Question 5

give examples of prime ministers making a point of diversity.

Answer 5

• blair appointed margaret becket as the first female foreign secretary
• brown appointed Jacqui smith as the first femal home secretary

Question 6

what is the diversity of the current cabinet?

Answer 6

7/23 are women and 4/23 are ethnic minorities

Question 7

what are the factors that affect the relationship between the prime minister and the cabinet?

Answer 7

• ability to manage their cabinet through their power of patronage, prime ministers depend on minister to effectively run their department
• use of cabinet meetings to set the agenda
• size of downing street
• use of bylateral meetings
• use of cabinet commitees
• size of the parliamentary majority
• electoral prospects and popularity of the prime minister
• divisions within the party (brexit under theresa may)
• wider political and economci situation

Question 8

give an example of when cabinet was not effectively managed

Answer 8

• theresa may was costantly undermined by leaking and briefing agaisnt the government (by boris johnson in particular)
• boris johnson voted against the government on many occasions

Question 9

give 2 examples of when the prime minister bypassed cabinet and used informal groups to make desisions.

Answer 9

• tony blairs ‘sofa government’ as he used informal meetings with individual ministers to influence them more significantly
• ‘the quad’ under the coalition goveernment

Question 10

give 2 examples of prime ministers using cabinet committees to influenc policy.

Answer 10

• theresa may used the cabinet committee on exiting the european union to make important desisions on brexit
• johnson used the COVID-19 strategy committee to make desisions on covid restrictions

Question 11

give an example of a special advisor with too much power.

Answer 11

Dominic Cummings under boris johnson.
- Boris Johnson sacrificed popularity when he defended Cummings after he broke covid rules (shows how important cummings was to government desision making)
- sajid javid resigned as he was told by boris that he could only keep his job if cummings was able to pick his advisors

Question 12

what did David Cameron implement (in downing street) to increase control over policy

Answer 12

the implementation unit

Question 13

what was tony blairs majority and how does a large majority influence the prime ministers power?

Answer 13

• 179 seat majority
• much more power as they can risk upsetting factions of the party while still knowing they will be able to pass legislation

Question 14

give an example of when the popularity of the prime minister influenced their abiltity to exert control over cabinet.

Answer 14

• boris johnson was initally very popular with the public (won many red wall seats)
• as he became less popular due to the partygate scandal the cabinet gained power and he was eventually forced out by key cabinet members such as rishi sunak and sajid javid

Question 15

give an examples of when the external situation can help or harm the prime minister.

Answer 15

• 2008 financial crisis damages the popularity of Gordon Brown
• 1992 black wednesday economic crash

Question 16

what are the agruments that the prime minister has become more presidential?

Answer 16

• often behave like a head of state in the context of foreign policy and emergencies
• prime ministers use the media to reach out to the public and develop personal popularity
• prime ministers increasingly rely on unelected advisors
• sought to distance themselves from the rest of government party

Question 17

give 2 examples of when the prime minister has behaved as a head of state.

Answer 17

• tony blair drove foreign plicy on the iraq war
• boris johnson rallied the country against the pandemic and help regular press conferences

Question 18

what does the prime ministers use of SPADS resemble in the us

Answer 18

• the west wing

Question 19

give an example of when a prime minister tried to distance themseleves from the rest of government

Answer 19

• boris johnson
• distanced himself from conservative party of the previos 9 years
• posed himself as an electoral change
• tony blair with the shift to new labour

Question 20

What are the arguments that the prime minister isn’t becoming increasingly presidential?

Answer 20

• ultimately still accountable to their party and parliament who can remove them
• the prime minister ultimately still relies on the cabinet (particularly significant when the government has a small majority)
• events and a divided party can limit the ability of the prime minister to act as a head of state

Question 21

Give an example of when the cabinet played a significant role in decision-making. why might it be argued that the role of the cabinet is increasing

Answer 21

• under Theresa May, the hard-line brexiteers (e.g Boris) pushed her to a harder Brexit deal

Question 22

which prime ministers have struggled in the past to act as a head of state?

Answer 22

• David Cameron- had to gain the support of the Liberal Democrats
• there’s may due to her weak majority

Question 23

what are the arguments that the prime minister can dominate the cabinet?

Answer 23

• the role of the cabinet has decreased as the prime minister uses informal meetings. Further leadership is often more centralised around the prime minister
• the prime minister can use the media to gain personal popularity and drive through their own agenda
• can use the power of patronage to appoint ministers that are loyal to them. CMR forces ministers to publicly support policies

Question 24

What are the arguments that the prime minister cannot dominate the cabinet?

Answer 24

• cabinet can play a key role in weakening the influence of the prime minister through resignation
• CMR is often weak when a government has a small majority
• the prime ministers rely significantly on ministers to run departments and pass policies
• cabinet is important to projecting unity at times of crisis
• when there are ‘big beasts’ as ministers, prime ministers have to sacrifice more power

Question 25

what was Margaret Thatcher’s relationship with her cabinet?

Answer 25

• implementation of the poll tax 1989 (ignored public opposition and warnings from the treasury)
• refused to tone down her 1981 monetarist budget
• was forced by her chancellor, John Major, to join the **exchange rate mechanism **
• forced to resign by her cabinet in 1990 as she alienated her cabinet through her use of SPAD’s

Question 26

What characterised Blair’s relationship with cabinet?

Answer 26

• 2003 Iraq war (based on unsubstantiated claims): cabinet members were denied access to key documents
• promoted party unity
• sofa government
• growth in Downing Street and the creation of the ‘prime minister delivery unit’ (from 2001) and stratergy unit
• brown had significant power- led to conflicts between ‘The Blairites’ and ‘Brownites’

Question 27

give an example of when brown exerted significant influence over the government.

Answer 27

Brown denied Blair’s desire to join the European single currency.
- brown devised ‘tests’ that must be passed before the UK could join the single currency

Question 28

What characterised Cameron’s relationship with the cabinet?

Answer 28

• United Conservatives and Lib dem behind austerity
• “The quad”
• internal divisions over Europe made the party hard to lead
• coalition limited his power of patronage and his ability to come up with and pass policies

Question 29

how did cameron prevent challenges to his leadership?

Answer 29

• formed strong bonds with osborne, clegg and may
• kept political opponents such as Gove and Johnson near the center of goverment

Question 30

how many of the cabinet committees did theresa may chair?

Answer 30

• 48%
• she chaired all 12 committes that she attended