Cabinet BIG FUCKING WHORES Flashcards
Singular Executive vs Collective Govt
US: Singular- All power is with the president. The Cabinet advises, and head departments. eg Rex Tillerson is the Head of State. DO NOT operate as a collective body.
UK: PM is Primus inter Pares (First among Equals). Bound together by the convention of “Collective Responsibility”. Must resign if they can’t agree to it eg Claire “Fuck me in the Ass” Short / Robin Cook in 2003 over Iraq invasion.
Recruitment & Membership
US: - Confirmation hearing in the Senate to confirm members appointed by Pres. (Result of Sep. of Powers in constitution). Eg Betsy “Rwandan Genocide” DeVos to Education 2017. Voted in by Tie Breaking vote (Useful for VP Qs).
-Members of congress can’t be on cabinet. Eg Hillary my dick had to stop jerking senate to be a big one.
UK: PM Decides who sits on the Cabinet. They must be in Parliament; HoC or HoL.
Eg: Brown made Peter Mandelson a Lord to make him business secretary.
The Shadow Cabinet is also often a qualifying factor of recruitment. eg George Osbourne 2010
PM can use Cabinet Reshuffle to change up membership & get rid of trouble maker ministers eg David Blunkett and Michael Gove (WHOO?????)
Policy Specialism
Industry Specialists in the US vs Members of Maj Party in UK. The UK tends to not have policy specialism when it comes to the Cabinet. Eg: Justine Greeley who is the MInister for Education, is an accountant by trade.
George Osbourne was Chancellor but has a history degree.
Whereas in the US we have big whores like James Mattis who is an experienced military general in the role of Secretary of Defence.
Frequency and Rivalries
USA: Could meet as little as 6 times a year.
Cabinet is far away from President at “Foggy Bottom”. eg DoD is in the Pentagon. Members often become more concerned with own department (“going native”).
They focus on departments and not potential rivals.
UK: Cabinet meetings are weekly. eg Every thursday for Theresa (hopefully not PM for long) May.
Possibility for rivaling to PM: Tony Blair vs Gordon Brown. Blairite vs Brownite period.
Theresa May also brought in rivals; Andrea Leadsom and Boris “Big Papito” Johnson to keep an eye on them. Wee snake!!!!
Cabinet under Thatcher and Blair
- Both very presidential in style. They often ignored their cabinets. Blair with “Sofa Governments” and “Kitchen Cabinets”. (bilaterals)
- Thatcher Dominated meetings making them infrequent and short.
- Under blair there was a heavier reliance on Special Advisors: eg Alastair Campbell, Jonathan Powell. The number of SPADs increased exponentially under Blair.
- Blair and Thatcher were able to fuck about and do this shit as they had massive dicks (Majorities). Iraq changed this.
Cabinet under Brown and then Coalition
-Brown was quite secretive too, accused of being a ‘Stalinist’, using his inner circle of Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls etc.
- Cameron’s coalition meant that collective responsibility had to return. He was constrained, however he used “The Quad” often instead of Cabinet Meetings. (GO FUCK A PIG m8)
- Over time he became more central.
US Individual Cabinet member Importance
Individual members are important. eg Steve Munchen as SoT announcing taxcuts.
Rex Tillerson as SoS recently sent by TRUMPerino to meet Putin over Syria.
Jared Kushner senior WH advisor jerking off.
