ministerial responsibility

Question 1

what are cabinet ministers responsible for?

Answer 1

• the policies of their department
• the conduct of their department
• their own personal conduct

Question 2

what has made things more complicated with individual ministerial responsibility?

Answer 2

-the fact that executive agencies have taken over the responsibilities of some ministries makes issues more complicated

Question 3

when should a minister definitely resign?

Answer 3

if a minister knowingly misleads parliament they should resign. in 2018, Amber Rudd resigned for misleading parliament over target to remove illegal immigrants

Question 4

what is an example of where ministers have escaped resignation?

Answer 4

• priti patel in 2020 came under fire for ‘bullying’ a member of her civil service
• despite the media and public outcry, she did not resign even though her actions were argued to be in breach of ministerial code
• this is because no one told her how her behaviour was impacting on people so she was breaking the code ‘unintentionally’

Question 5

when might a minister resign?

Answer 5

• misleading parliament - amber rudd 2018
• mistakes made within their department - although normally blamed on civil service
• failures in their policies
• personal misconduct - Michael fallon 2017 for actions towards women
• political pressure - matt hancock
• disagreements with the PM - Phillip hammond and others resigned when Boris came in charge

Question 6

what is the concept of collective ministerial responsibility?

Answer 6

-ministers must publicly support all decisions made by the government, if they cannot, they must resign

Question 7

what is an example of someone resigning after disagreeing with the govt?

Answer 7

Robin Cook 2003 resigned instead of supporting the Iraq war

Theresa May had the highest amount of resignations of any PM due to Brexit

Question 8

how has the secrecy of cabinet discussions been diminished?

Answer 8

-cabinet discussions should be private, but there have been a remarkable number of leaks during Johnson’s time in office, notably over lockdowns with at one point there having to be investigations which have included looking through minister’s phones!

Question 9

when have there been exceptions to collective ministerial responsibility?

Answer 9

• Brexit referendum - allowed ministers to campaign opposing views without having to resign
• vote on AV being the voting system
• where votes are on a matter of conscience not party policy

Question 10

what are the problems with collective responsibility?

Answer 10

• it leads to the idea that disunity is the greatest weakness you can have in UK politics as people will just have to resign
• it presents a view to the public that there is only one view of government
• dissent and leaks rather than resignations or open discourse damage the reputation of governments and the UK political system