Ministerial responsibility Flashcards
2 main features of IMR
- Ministers are responsible and accountable to the actions of their department
- Implies civil servants are responsible to their ministers
What is legal responsibility
a convention that a minister will step down if something goes wrong in their department
Examples of Legal responsibility being ignored
- In 2020, Gavin Williamson passed the blame of the exam fiasco to Ofqual rather than resigning and accepting responsibility
- Priti Patel failed to resign on 2020 over claims of her bullying civil servants
What is political responsibility
ministers are responsible for their own conduct and any issue is seen as a personal failure
Examples of political failure
- In 2017, Michael Fallon resigned over allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour
- Andrew Mitchell resigned in 2012 for allegedly calling police officers on duty at No.10 ‘Fucking plebs’
What is CMR
the principle by which all government ministers are responsible for the actions of their government
Why is CMR important
- Ensures that decisions remain confidential and disagreements stay private
- It can underpin PM power by silencing critics within government
- It can force potential opposition to work with the government
Recent examples of CMR being upheld
In 2020 Sajid Javid resigned as Chancellor because he refused to dismiss his advisors during the 2020 cabinet
Between 2018 and 2019 the PM face 26 resignation by ministers over disagreements with her proposed chequers agreement and Brexit deal
recent example of CMR being ignored
Blairites v Brownites, in the Blair government there was a large split between those who supported Blair and those who supported Brown which led to documents being leaked to the media and the public
Andrew Gwynne case
IMR
- It was reported he was sending sexist and racist messages via WhatsApp, the former Junior Minister in the Department of Health and Social Care was quickly sacked
Anneliese Dodds case
CMR
- Chose to resign over Starmer’s decision to cut the international aid budget saying it ruins the UK’s reputation by taking away aid from the poorest in society
Why is CMR/IMR not important for government unity
- it is a convention so for Example Figures such as Brown still leaked information from the government
- People can still talk badly about the government such as Johnson who openly spoke out against May even whilst in her government
