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Executive Flashcards

1
Q

Who is the head of
government? How are
they appointed?

A

leader of the largest party by convention is given invitation by the King to form a government in their name

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2
Q

What is the Prime
Minister’s Office? What
support does it offer
the PM in No.10?

A
  • success of govt as a whole
  • admin support to PM
  • Policy advice
  • media relations
  • political office
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3
Q

What is the Cabinet?
Who does it include?
Who appoints its
members? Why is it
important?

A
  • main collective body of the cabinet
  • meets weekly
  • 31 in 2025
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4
Q

What are Cabinet
Committees, sub-
committees and inter-
ministerial groups?

A

sub committees of the cabinet to discuss detailed policy which was less significant to the rest of the cabinet

MAY- European Union Exit and Trade committee

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5
Q

What is the role of
the Cabinet Office?

A

support work of both offices

organise cabinet

admin support- collective government

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6
Q

What is the ministerial
hierarchy within each
ministerial department?

A

Secretary of State

ministers

junior ministers

to assist ministers- PPS

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7
Q

What is the role of the
Civil Service? How are
civil servants different
to ministers?

A
  • develop policy
  • permanent
  • impartial
  • acronyms
  • accountable to ministers
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8
Q

What are special
advisors? How are they
different to civil
servants?

A

termorary partisan advisors

can be political

political support such as policies

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9
Q

Policy making function

A
  • create a proposed plan of action and then follow through on that policy
  • creating foreign policy and political leadership
  • made by government department with various influences
  • approved by cabinet committees
  • helps to co-ordinate policy
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10
Q

Implementing policy function

A

take responsibility of running the country

ensure services are running efficiently

through taskforces given authority by parliament

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11
Q

Control over the
legislative agenda

A

PM bas control over comms timetable where stye can push through legislation

As seen during Covid

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12
Q

Secondary legislation

A

Vagueness of bills is filled in letter by legislation correcting gaps

impractical for parliemtn to debate finite details

covid 19 saw lots of secondary legislation

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13
Q

Prerogative powers

A

Power belonging to monarch and exercised by the PM

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14
Q

What is the difference
between accountability
and responsibility?

A

Accountability- justifying actions to the public

Responsibility- accepting blame for failure

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15
Q

How are ministers held
accountable and
responsible to
Parliament?

A

accountable by questions and enquiries and communities

they are held responsible by the electorate

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16
Q

What is ‘collective
responsibility’

A

all ministers are collectively responsible for the elections of the government

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17
Q

What is the confidence
principle? How has this
been impacted by the
Fixed-Term Parliament
Act (2011)?

A

government only remains n power when it has the confidence of MP’s

1979 James Cahalahan - GE followed

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18
Q

What is the unanimity
principle? Why are
ministers considered
bound by decisions
that were made in their
absence?

A

All ministers must support and explain cabinet’s decisions even if they dont agree with them

ministers must resign if they disgaree

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19
Q

What are some
examples of ministers
who refused to take
collective responsibility
for particular policies?

A

Robin Cook- Iraq War

Joris Johnson- Over Brexit

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20
Q

What is the
confidentiality
principle? Why is it
important?

A

Cabinet discussions are a secret

this enables ministers to freely share their views

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21
Q

What is an example of
a minister violating this
principle?

A

Gavin Williamson after an inquiry identified him responsible for leaking actinons from a national security council meting

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22
Q

How can collective
responsibility be said to
provide clarity? Why is
such clarity important?

A

this government then leads to having one voice

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23
Q

What are the two ways
in which collective
responsibility can be
temporarily set aside?
What are some
examples?

A

Free votes- assisted dying with Kim Leadbeater

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24
Q

Why were ‘agreements
to differ’ particularly
important for the 2010-
15 Coalition?

A

over areas where collective responsibility would not apply

separate key political diffentces

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25
Why is it arguable that, in general, the convention of collective responsibility is respected and upheld?
ministers want the government to succeed
26
Why can collective responsibility be broken, even though the Ministerial Code says that it applies to all ministers?
Convention
27
How did the Lib Dems force David Cameron to suspend the convention in 2012?
where the lib dems blocked boundary reform
28
What are leaks? How do they undermine the convention?
when minsters give journalists secret information weaker convention because of cabinet discussion
29
What is sofa government? Why does it undermine the convention?
Tony Blair preferred to discuss policies in small informal meetings no collective TB had less power to fire cabinet ministers
30
Ministers are collectively responsible for the Cabinet’s decisions, but what are they individually responsible for?
- their one actions - the actions of their department - Gavinwillaimon over grades
31
How are ministers held individually accountable and responsible?
Questions, Statements Resignations, firings, taking action
32
What are some recent examples of ministers resigning over their actions and decisions in office?
Gavin Williamson
33
What is an example of a minister resigning due to revelations about their conduct in their personal lives?
Matt Hancock
34
Why are ministers also considered to be accountable and responsible for their entire department?
Civil servants are impartial and annonomus they can only do as well as the policy they have been told to do
35
What is an example of a minister resigning over mistakes made by their department?
Gavin Williamson
36
How has the growing size and complexity of modern government impacted the convention?
Ministers have to delegate more and more responsibility and there is several layers of leadership
37
What is the Ministerial Code? What are its limitations?
standards expected of ministers not legally binding vague and leads to going to the PM
38
What role does the Independent Advisor on Ministers’ Interests play in the enforcement of the Ministerial Code?
A role to investigate breaks in the ministerial code
39
What are institutional resources?
the team of civil servants and special advisors based at no 10
40
Why did the earliest prime ministers actually have considerable institutional resources? How were these resources lost?
The Prime Minister acted also as the Chancellor so was more powerful however as the government expanded the role of PM split
41
How has the size and role of the Prime Minister’s Office in No.10 changed in recent decades?
Slowly increased but still small team 100 or so members of staff
42
What are constitutive resources? Why is it difficult to identify the PM’s constitutional powers?
responsibility of PM to make certain decisions mostly conducted by convention
43
Why are the Royal Prerogatives an important source of prime ministerial power?
head of state powers has slowly tradnsefferd into head of government powers
44
What are examples of recent legal and non- legal limits that have been imposed on the Royal Prerogatives? How effective are these limits?
BJ probation of parliament May couldn't begin to negotiate Brexit either
45
What is patronage? How does this power help the PM? What constitutional and political limits are there on the use of patronage powers?
power to control appointments to a range of offices Lide peers political limits to these from senior party figures and other MP's diversity willingness political positonm
46
How does the PM’s position as the head of cabinet, and their control of the cabinet system, help them to influence policy making?
amount of cabinet meetings and length and agenda PM can decide what cabinet has approved political risks in avoiding sentior members of the party
47
What is ‘sofa government’, and why is it controversial?
preferring to make decisions in bilateral meetings with ministers or small groups of them
48
As the head of government, to what extent can the PM reshape the structure of government?
creation of the department for exiting the EU
49
What are political resources? What factors help to give the PM authority and influence within the executive?
Power to persuade and to inflecne which comes form popularity seniority
50
Under what circumstances will a PM’s political power be at it strongest and weakest?
strongest when part leadership is strong or a general election is underway when the PM is seen to represent the party MP's may loose loyalty in the party
51
What are personal resources? Why might two different PMs, with the same institutional, constitutive & political resources, still have varying degrees of influence within the executive?
personally, characteristics and traits, skills, profile, expertise, ways of working
52
How and why did the cabinet’s institutional resources change over the course of the 20th Century?
Meetings became more formal and minutes were taken. Cabinet secretary became permiant. more stadd to work in what would become the cabinet office
53
How does the Cabinet Office support the cabinet system today?
Provides administrative support - taking minutes - preparing adgendas - committee meetings - co- ordinating departmetns
54
How and why does the Cabinet Office also support the PM?
- supports by being a Lisbon point between departments - PM is chair of the cabinet - often the PM is dependant on civil servants
55
How do the institutional resources of individual cabinet ministers compare with those of the prime minister?
Secretaries of state have junior ministers and spads to facilitate the running of the department
56
In constitutional theory, what is the main role of cabinet? To what extent does cabinet still perform this function?
By convention the cabinet is the ultimate decisions making body of the government if the policy is decisive the PM has an interest in allowing the members of the cab to express their views this was significant when BJ was significant to intensive care
57
What are the other main functions performed by the cabinet system?
Policy to be discussed by various committees ratification of policy keeps ministers informed on decisions co-ordinates policy that cut across various departments
58
Individually, what constitutive resources do cabinet ministers have that the prime minister lacks?
ability to make secondary legislation PM has no power over this
59
In what ways can a strong PM influence the cabinet system?
- How often meetings take place - to sum up what happened in meetings - how long meetings are held - create and disband committees - can change ministers
60
How can political circumstances strengthen/weaken cabinet ministers?
When thatcher had to re- stand for the leadership of the conservative party while she stood down as the majority of the cabinet felt she should resign
61
Why can it be politically risky for a PM to continually ignore the objections of cabinet ministers?
Revolt and mass resignation- Boris Johnson
62
How and why did cabinet resignations, and the loss of cabinet support, impact PM Margaret Thatcher?
She had to re stand for the conservative leadership
63
How and why will a cabinet’s influence also depend on the personal resources of individual cabinet ministers?
Personal resources- power of persuasion, likability, respect, personal out
64
What is the traditional explanation of where power lies in the executive branch?
Historically it has been seen that it is the cabinet
65
How had arguments changed by the 60s? What evidence supports claims that cabinet government has been replaced by prime ministerial government?
Size and role of the cabinet was replaced by the PM Even considered that no.10 had become a British presidency
66
What led some academics to suggest that the office of prime minister had become increasingly presidential?
- increasing institutional resources - special advisors replacing the advice of the cabinet - branches of the executive branch - shorter less frequent cabinet meetings
67
How have these arguments been criticised and challenged?
That the PM can only act in a presidential way thanks to a larger majority
68
Why is the question of whether it is the prime minister or cabinet that dominates the executive arguably flawed?
because power isnt static but a fluid
69
What is the core executive model? Why does power and influence within the core executive vary from policy to policy
the network of the executive needed to deliver one policy no one has full control over resources balance between the model
70
How did coalition impact the institutional resources available to the Prime Minister and other Conservative ministers?
because Nick Clegg was deputy PM deputy PM office was established
71
How and why did the Prime Minister still maintain an advantage in terms of institutional resources?
because they were split based on size still most of the resources were with the tories
72
How were the Prime Minister’s patronage powers, and control over the cabinet system, impacted by coalition?
as the senior parties the tories would have 18 cabinet ministers and 59 Lib Dems had 18 cabinet ministers and 12 junior ministers
73
How did coalition government increase the significance and influence of the cabinet and cabinet committees?
Cabinet contained liberals across the cabinet this led to power to libs they did have to bond to cab collective
74
In what ways was cabinet government still undermined during the coalition?
- ratification information and cordiaiton there was still disagreements
75
What political obstacles did coalition pose to the Prime Minister?
coalition committee existed to resolve disputes between members liberals could pull out of votes less jobs given to lib MP's
76
What opportunities did coalition give the Prime Minister? In what ways did Cameron benefit?
both groups had to prove they could work together Clegg did absorb negative media attention cam was close to the lib dems

UK Politics and Government (13 decks)

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