is cabinet significant Flashcards
rise of downing street machine
-since the 1970s the office of the PM has had unrivalled institutional support compared to any offices
-downing street machine has over 100 staff including policy unit which now rivals the cabinet
-Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s chief SPAD, orchestrated policy and silenced dissent
-biggest rival is the treasury but even that only has 15 members
downing street machine evaluation
PMs with a weak mandate, or whose opinion poll ratings decline over time are increasingly challenged by Cabinet colleagues as their authority weakens. This is regardless of the PM’s overwhelming
institutional support (e.g., Blair’s ‘lame duck’ final year in office following Brown’s coup).
cabinets history of coups
-even PMs that have been described as ‘presidential’ have been removed from office by the cabinet
-if the PM falls behind in the polls the cabinet may use its collective strength to remove the PM
-e.g. Blair, fell 5% behind Cameron in the polls, so Brown forced Blair to step down (curry house coup)
coups evaluation
If the PM holds significant personal powers or demonstrates a high-degree of political skill in terms of managing their party and rivals, a coup will not happen. PM power is ‘elastic’ and changes over time. Coups tend to occur when a PM has exhausted their political capital.
decentralising PMs ensure the power of cabinet
-PMs often decentralise power to cabinet ministers, two primary reasons for this
-one, PMs like Brown view their position traditionally, as ‘primus inter pares’ setting out the overall vision and then delegating power amongst the cabinet
-two, prime ministers may lack the authority to adopt a ‘prime ministerial’ style of government e.g. Truss
decentralising PMs evaluation
PMs with a large parliamentary majority (Thatcher, Blair, Johnson) rarely adopt a decentralising approach. This suggests Major, Cameron and May adopted their collectivist approach out of necessity. Hence, at times of strong, majority government it is likely the PM will continue to dominate.
powerful cabinet is inevitable in challenging circumstances
-if a PM leads a disunited party they must compromise to prevent coup attempts e.g. May’s acceptance of Brexiteers
-during a minority government or slim majority PM cannot afford to lose a single cote and must compromise with big beasts e.g. Cameron having to accept the referendum in 2016
-if the PM has not won personal power they must decentralise it e.g. Brown decentralising to Blairites
-finally, big beasts cannot be ignored e.g. Blair keeping Brown as chancellor
powerful cabinet evaluation
In a different context, PMs can wield a great degree of power: unified party, large majority, a significant personal mandate (e.g., Blair from 1997-2003 was presidential according to Professor Foley even if he did lose authority post-2003).
