Collective Ministrial Responsibility To Play A Meaningful Role

Question 1

Theme 1 blair

Answer 1

Agree-
Ev= Good Friday agreement 1998= cabinet fully supported it which sought to bring peace to Northern Ireland
Sig as although the agreement was complex and politically sensitive, there was a unified stance, presenting a strong message of commitment to peace

Ca= Iraq war 2003, robin cooke, leader of hoc resigned from his cabinet through an open resignation speech in opposition to join the us led invasion.
Not as sig bc his resignation indicated that he was upholding collective ministerial responsibility by resigning bc he could no longer support the gov’s decision, respecting it.

Question 2

Theme 2= Boris Johnson

Answer 2

Agree-
Ev= response to covid 19 in 2020 to 2021 his cabinet demonstrated cr in implementing measures like lockdowns and vaccine rollouts.
Sig bc while internal disagreements about specific strategies were reported, cabinet publicly supported decisons to ensure public trust and coherence in crisis management

Ca= priti Patel’s responses to border control in 2021,spoke about how gov should have controlled its borders and closed them at a much faster rate during covid.
Sig in disconnecting cabinet with members giving their own opinions. It reflects a difference in opinion but does not directly undermine ongoing government policy.

Question 3

Theme 3= Cameron

Answer 3

Austerity measures- the coalition govt led by David Cameron and nick clegg implemented austerity policies to address the financial crisis .
Sig bc while disagreements existed between the con and Lib Dems during discussions, the final policies were collectively endorsed in public.

Ca= Brexit debate- divided cabinet,in the lead up to the eu referendum, he temporally suspended cmr to allow cabinet ministers to campaign on either side of the debate. This backfired on him bc the Brexit referendum in 2016 was for leaving the eu, no cmr makes the pm’s political agendas vulnerable, showing its imporance. The fact that cmr has had to be relaxed on a number of occasions in order for the government to function effectively and not being too divided is a key argument for why cmr is no longer important. Prime ministers have frequently suspended cmr during refernedums in order to prevent the issue of the referendum dividing and harming gov.

Question 4

Definition

Answer 4

Collective ministerial responsibility is a convention that is included in the Ministerial Code and
applies to all ministers. It is intended to promote government unity in the face of opposition and
means that the government as a whole is responsible to Parliament for its decisions.
Collective ministerial responsibility holds that ministers can privately disagree in cabinet
meetings, but the discussions in these meetings are kept secret and ministers must support
and defend all of the government’s policies in public and in the media, even if they
personally/privately disagree with them.
A minister must resign from the government before publicly criticising government policy. If
a minister criticises government policy without resigning, then the Prime Minister should
force them to resign.